As summer winds down and the busy tourist season ends, we find ourselves in back to school season. With quieter days ahead we have more time to sit back, relax, and plan our next steps. Is it a good time to buy? Is it a good time to sell?
There’s been lots of speculation on what the real estate market is doing and where it’s headed. 2021 was a busy year and set multiple records in terms of sales activity and prices. 2022 Was a different story with inventory increasing and sales slowing down. Fuelled by increasing interest rates and government policy, the average home price in the Central Okanagan has fallen back to around the same price that it was 12 months ago. Have we hit the bottom? Let’s dive into the numbers for August 2022.
Central Okanagan Real Estate Stats – September 2022
(Compared to the month of August 2021)
Single Family Detached
Average Price: $1,066,504 (-0.3%)
New Listings: 496 (+21.5%)
Sales: 186 (-30.9%)
Days To Sell: 43 (+30.3%)
Townhouse
Average Price: $746,631 (+8.7%)
New Listings: 115 (+18.5%)
Sales: 54 (-29%)
Days To Sell: 57 (+84%)
Condo
Average Price: $682,653* (see note below)
New Listings: 247 (+41%)
Sales: 126 (-24.5%)
Days To Sell: 40 (+11%)
* several new build high-end luxury condos were released and sold at the million dollar mark that skewed the average sale price this month by over $100,000 for this month (most notably 16 condo sales in Peachland at Crysatal Lake Okanagan Residences where they sold from $999,999 to $3,469,760)
Mobile
Average Price: $237,496 (+7%)
New Listings: 36 (+9%)
Sales: 24 (+14%)
Days To Sell: 31 (-40.4%)
Land
Average Price: $1,200,781* (+56.6%)
New Listings: 38 (-11.6%)
Sales: 12 (-55.5%)
Days To Sell: 86 (+2.4%)
* a land assembly of 4 single family homes on Groves Ave were sold for over $1.5M each, and also 17 acres in Lake Country which skewed the average sale price higher than normal this month. Looking at the sales graphs the average sale price is probably closer to $650,000.
Notable Market Indicators:
Listings up 10% Year-To-Date
Sales down 31% Year-To-Date
Inventory up 74% Year-To-Date
Currently we are sitting at 6.5 months of inventory. We have under 4 months of inventory in the condo market which shows a lot of first time home buyers entering the market. This number does not include all of the new builds and condo towers being built that are all currently sold out.
List to sell ratio (the number of listings that end up selling) is 44%. A balanced market is anywhere from 30 – 60% which shows we are now in a more balanced market.
The mobile home market is very strong right now. Year to date listings are up 10%, sales are down only 1.5%, list to sale ratio is 70%, days to sell is down 32% (selling quicker), and prices up 27%. There is only 3.5 months of inventory, signalling more of a sellers market in this category.
The condo and towhome markets seem to be less affected by this downturn, which is also supported by the Home Price Index. It seems the recent mortgage rate hikes affected a lot of home buyers looking at single family homes to consider the townhome and condo market. The average price of a townhome seems to have stabilized over the last three months.
A single family home in Rutland seems to have taken the biggest impact on pricing. This will be an area to watch in the coming months as the price of a single family home in Rutland will be comparable to a townhome and buyers in this price point may consider looking towards a single family home. This would provide them with more yardspace and no strata fee. The elimination of a strata fee would increase the buying power by about $50,000 to $100,000, for comparison.
West Kelowna has also taken a bigger hit than Kelowna in terms of sale price.