168 Sales in October
The Kelowna residential housing market encountered what statistitions might call a “blip” last month. There were 168 residential sales which was better than most anticipated after 3 consecutive slow months but 14 of those sales were over $1 million, 3 were over $3 million and 1 was $10 million. In a community of over 100,000 people and an average household income of about $55,000 these numbers are way out of line of what we can consider normal. Clearly, there has been a lot of pent up demand in the high end of the market and those buyers decided this was the time to jump in. This is the good news. The average every day wage earner is still in "wait and see" mode so we aren't seeing as many $275,000-400,000 sales. Last month's data skewed the average sale price in Kelowna up to $625,000.
A year ago, October 2009 saw 221 sales for the month with an average sale price of $509,000. The 168 sales are a marked improvement over the past 4 months and those who had predicted a tough Winter market might have to take a wait and see approach as sellers appear to be more realistic with pricing and buyers are starting to act.
On a personal note, Jo-Ann & I are running the New York Marathon on November 7. There will be a total of 45,000 runners.
Andy Smith and Jo-Ann McLellan