First and foremost Happy New Year!

2017 was another very busy year for the Kelowna Real Estate Market and while the MLS® sales numbers were not as high as the previous year, there were a large number of Developers sales - E.G. downtown High Rises and New Homes being built, which weren't included in these figures.

All year it seems that small parcels of Land were being snapped up, and new developments are now popping up all over the area. I don't recall ever having seen so much building going on around the City.

For many years we have been talking about Kelowna one day changing, well it feels like its time has come!

Central Okanagan Real Estate Sales December 2017

As to be expected, December...

Real Estate Foreclosure transactions, in British Columbia, are a complex area, where unforeseen hurdles can cause serious problems for the Real Estate Agent and the Public.

Foreclosure transactions are quite different from regular real estate transactions, and it’s important to appreciate the differences to avoid common mistakes. 

The starting point is that foreclosure transactions are ultimately subject to court approval. The first offer accepted by a seller/lender doesn’t automatically mean that this buyer will get the property. The approval process encompasses an overarching supervisory role of the courts in relation to the transaction, which in general is handled by a master of the court.

In many cases, the party that has the conduct of sale in the foreclosure requires that many of the standard clauses in a Contract of Purchase and Sale be amended. The amended clauses are generally contained in a Schedule to the contract.

Parties foreclosing...

The BC Real Estate Association has today published its latest Mortgage Rate Forecast.

As I suspected they are forecasting further rises - see the table below.

Risk Factors -:

• Changes to the Mortgage Rules in January 2018.
• Elevated Housing Debt.
• The ongoing performance of the Canadian Economy

All of these factors will all play their part. At the end of the day, the Government cannot risk increasing Mortgage Rates too high, or too quickly as this may have a devastating effect on some households and the knock-on effect this would have on the Real Estate Sector, which is an important part of the Canadian Economy.

The full report is available at http://www.bcrea.bc.ca/docs/economics-forecasts-and-presentations/mortgagerateforecast.pdf

Kind Regards

Trish Cenci

Tel 250 864 1707

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 7,731 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in November, an increase of 20.4% from the same period last year. Total sales dollar volume was $5.59 billion, up 39.1% from November 2016. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $723,112, up 15.5 per cent from November 2016.

November was the third consecutive month that BC home sales were above 9,000 units, on a seasonally adjusted basis," said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. "Elevated consumer demand is being supported by strong employment growth, rising wages and favourable demographics."

BC employment increased 3.8 per cent over the last 12 months, totaling over 90,000 jobs. Over the same period, average hourly wages in the province climbed 5.7 per cent to $26.82. Against this backdrop, a large cohort of millennials is entering their household-forming life stage....

The beginning of November seemed to start very slowly, and it felt like we were really entering into the usual winter lull. I suspect this was not helped by the heavy snowfall we experienced in early November before all the leaves had fallen. Thank goodness that melted quickly and I was pleased to see 10 degrees on my Thermometer one-day last week! In the last week, inquiries have picked up again and Buyers are still writing offers.

Kelowna Real Estate Sales Numbers November 2017

Overall sales are down 10.3% on last month but interestingly up 14% on this time last year.Single Family Home sales are down 16.1% on last month, but up 17% on 2016, and Strata sales are down 17% and down 8.5% on this time last year. Interestingly Lot sales are still much higher than last year.

What is the Current Kelowna Real Estate Market Outlook?

In case you missed it, the BC Real Estate Association issued its Q4 Real Estate Forecast for BC this week. Unfortunately, they only...