First-time Buyers had their busiest month so far this year, in the Kelowna and Central Okanagan Real Estate Market.

Does this mean they are finally finding ways to get around the Mortgage Stress test, which began in January this year? It will be interesting to see the answer over the winter months.

I suspect that increasing interest rates will be the next thing to 'curb' their purchasing power.

The number of Investors was also down, and also the number of Vancouver and Lower Mainland Buyers from 20.5% to 16.87%. This is likely to be due to the continued cooling of the Lower Mainland Real Estate Markets, where homes are taking longer to sell and prices are 'softer' than they were.

Central Okanagan September 2018 Buyers Survey Results.

Best describe your most recent Buyer (moving to/from property type)

First Time Buyer – 20.08%

Revenue Property Investor – 8.79%

Moving Up – 15.06%

Similar Property Type – 23.01%

Downsizing – 12.97%...

We've heard a lot about the Speculation Tax coming to parts of British Columbia, without know exactly what it is going to look like.

This week the BC Government finally tabled the new Tax, which has yet to be voted on.

The BC areas affected are -:

• municipalities within the Capital Regional District
• municipalities within the Metro Vancouver Regional District, excluding Bowen Island, the Village of Lions Bay and Electoral area A, but including UBC and the University Endowment Lands
• the City of Abbotsford
• the District of Mission
• the City of Chilliwack
• the City of Kelowna and the City of West Kelowna
• the City of Nanaimo and the District of Lantzville

All residential property owners in the designated taxable regions will have to complete an annual declaration to claim any relevant exemptions. Where there are multiple owners of a home, a declaration must be completed for each owner.

Further information on how to declare will...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 5,573 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) across the province in September, a 33.2 per cent decrease from the same month last year. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $685,749, down 1.1 per cent from September 2017.

Looking at the numbers for Kelowna and the Central Okanagan the Average Sale price in September 2018 was $534,943 up from $496,433 (a 7.8% increase) compared to September 2017 and listing numbers were up from 3,238 to 4,172 and increase of 28.8%.

Total sales dollar volume was $3.8 billion, a 34 per cent decline from September 2017. “BC home sales continue at a slower pace compared to last year,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “The impact on affordability and purchasing power caused by the mortgage stress test and moderately higher interest ...

It’s been a tough month for the Kelowna Real Estate market. Every day we have seen price reductions as anxious Sellers come to terms with the fact that they have had fewer showings than they were expecting, and are left wondering what it’s going to take to get their property sold.

Buyer continue to sit on the fence, and indeed a number of them have not even visited yet to start the buying process, they are just sitting on the edges watching to see what the Real Estate market will do.

We have now seen the full impact on the Mortgage Stress Test, the threat of rising Interest Rates and the upcoming Speculation Tax that is about to be voted upon in the BC legislature during October, which will affect Kelowna and West Kelowna.

The impact of Government intervention in the housing market has certainly had a dramatic effect, where in some cases first-time buyers have seen their purchasing power reduced fine 25%.

Let’s take a look at this months numbers.

Kelowna Real Estate...