Kelowna experiencing buyer’s market as real estate listings increase
Global News
Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association, says Kelowna has experienced lower housing sales due to a sluggish economy.
There are plenty of ‘for sale’ signs in front of Kelowna homes these days.
“We have accumulated a lot of inventory over the last few months,” said Kelowna realtor Jaime Briggs. “Right now, we are sitting at about nine months of listing inventory.”
Briggs said there are several factors, including slower than normal sales this past spring and a lackluster tourism season this summer.
“The summer has really hurt us,” Briggs said. “We’ve seen a lack of tourism and a lack of people coming to the Okanagan and typically we get people coming here. They fall in love with the area, they want to buy here.”
According to a newly released report by Re/Max Canada, the number of listings in the area are up by 17.8 per cent from this time last year while residential sales have dropped by 12 per cent.
Prices have budged but only slightly with the average sale price across all property types down by 2.4 per cent.
“There’s not a lot of activity happening,” said Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association. “We’d much prefer for a balanced market with lots of listings, lots of sales and instead we’re in this market that’s trapped in this low activity state.”
According to Ogmundson, Kelowna has experienced lower housing sales due to a sluggish economy.
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