The start of February remained quiet, and suddenly Sellers started to list and a few more Buyers started to look, which will probably be a relief for Buyers and Sellers to hear!

On the Buyers side - affordability & levels of Inventory are a real challenge for some, and I have seen properties with Suites proving very desirable, as Buyers look for a 'Mortgage Helper'.

For example, a Single Family home in the Rutland area, early to mid $550's with a suite, had 4 offers on the first day of Listing!

On the Sellers side, some have had few or no showings over the last few weeks, so have been delighted to finally start to see some showing activity!

Kelowna & Central Okanagan Real Estate Sales February 2019.

We have finally seen an uptick in sales numbers! Overall sales were up...

The City of Kelowna Council heard Staff recommendations yesterday for moving forward with new Short Term Rental By-Laws, as the number of Short Term rentals in the City has been rising.

The new regulations are aimed at balancing the demand for short-term rentals as tourists visit the City, with the need to protect for long-term rentals and limit impacts on neighbouring properties.

The goal is to provide clarity on how short-term rentals can operate.

Short-term rental accommodation will be defined as a new use, with more specific regulations associated with it, and introduce it as a principal or secondary use in the appropriate zones. The amendments also remove the ‘apartment hotels’ use from the Zoning Bylaw.

Here is a snapshot of some of the proposals-:

The Public Hearing is set for 6 p.m. March 12th, 2019, and is expected to come into force later in the Spring.

If you do currently undertake Short Term Rentals, you will need to have a Licence, and there...

A question I get asked regularly is what are prices going to do in the Kelowna Real Estate Market in 2019.

In the latest Real Estate forecast from the BC Real Estate Association, they are forecasting a fairly flat year, for Kelowna and the Central Okanagan Real Estate Market.

Here is their latest report below.

Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) residential sales in the province are forecast to increase by 2.1% to 80,000 units this year, after recording 78,345 residential sales in 2018. MLS® residential sales are forecast to increase a further 6.9% to 85,500 units in 2020. The 10-year average for MLS® residential sales in the province is 85,800 units. The negative shock to affordability and purchasing power created by the B20 stress test on mortgage borrowers is expected to continue constraining housing demand in the province this year.

The BC economy continues to be highly supportive of housing demand. After five consecutive years of above-trend economic growth, the...

The January 2019 Kelowna and Central Okanagan Real Estate Buyers Survey Results have now by produced, courtesy of our local Real Estate Board - OMREB.

One of the main highlights to note this month is the fall in Buyers coming from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver area, where their own Real Estate Markets have been slow this winter.

Property Type:

16.87%  First Time Purchase (down from 19.88% in December)

19.28%  Move Up Purchase (up from 14.91%)

18.07%  Relocating to Similar Property Type (down from 21.12%) 

10.84%  Revenue/Investment (down from 15.53%)

16.27%  Downsizing (up from 8.70%)

4.82%    Moving from Single-family Home to Strata Unit (down from 4.97%)

2.41%    Moving from Strata Property to Single Family Home (down from 2.48%)

7.83%    Recreational Property (down from 8.70%)

3.61%    Retirement Home/Seniors Community (up from 1.86%)

Buyer Type (Family Dynamic):

30.30%  Two Parent family/children...

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 3,546 residential unit sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in January, a decline of 33.2% from the same month last year.

The average MLS® residential price in the province was $665,590, a decline of 7.7% from January 2018. Total sales dollar volume was $2.36 billion, a 38.4% decline from the same month last year. “BC households continue to grapple with the policy-induced affordability shock created last year by the federal government,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “The resulting pullback in consumer demand is largely responsible for January’s lacklustre performance.”

Total MLS® residential active listings increased 41.2% to 29,522 units compared to the same month last year. The ratio of sales to active residential listings declined from 25.4% to 12%over the same period. “Many BC regions are now...

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce has published it's 2019 Economic Scorecard for the City.

We finished 10th out of 17 overall, against a number of North American and some international cities.

There were some bright spots, but definitely some areas for improvement.

To read the full report go to https://www.kelownachamber.org/files/COK18-041_Economic%20Score%20Card_web.pdf

Kind Regards

Trish Cenci