Kelowna Residential Prices Inching Upwards
There are currently 1,954 residential homes for sale in Kelowna ranging in price from $219,900 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom 1,100 square foot home on Laurel in Rutland up to an asking price of $18,000,000. There are just over 400 homes available in the $350,000-$450,000 range which is were typical first time buyers with mortgages and minivans live. With interest rates at record lows and home prices looking like they’re inching up again, the “wait-and-see” crowd need to act otherwise they’ll find themselves in the “waited-too-long” crowd. There are still only 18 foreclosures on the market.
Through the first 11 weeks of this year, there have been 209 residential sales in Kelowna (and area) with an average sale price of $436,500. Compare and contract with the first 11 weeks of 2008 where we saw a $523,000 average sale price with 454 solds. What really stands out is the absence is the high end purchaser so far this year. There were 8 homes that sold over $1 million this time last year including one that sold over $7 million. So far this year there has only been 1 sale over $1 million which is really skewing our numbers.
Always trying to end on a positive note, the good news is that the market is clearly increasing, albeit slowly. The average sale price in January was $420,000, February was $425,000 and through 18 days of March $448,000. I don’t know if we will see average sale prices escalating to the level we saw early last year but there’s certainly a lot more activity these days in areas like Shannon Lake, Rutland and Glenmore. Let’s hope this isn’t a blip and this upward trend continues.
Regards,
Andrew Smith
"Your GPS to Real Estate"
Smith McLellan Group
Royal LePage Kelowna
Kelowna BC
View all our Listings at www.OkanaganBC.com