Last months Buyers Survey Report is now out, provided by the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB).

Less activity by First Time Buyers, but more people Downsizing and Investing.

Families were busier Buying, but there were less out of area buyers. I suspect this is due to many have greater difficulty Selling their own homes, as many areas are struggling with sales at the moment.

Property Type:

19.89% First Time Purchase (down from 23.48% in April)

17.74% Move Up Purchase (down from 19.61%)

19.62% Relocating to Similar Property Type (up from 16.85%)

11.02% Revenue/Investment (up from 8.29%)

19.09% Downsizing (up from 15.75%)

7.53% Moving from Single-family Home to Strata Unit (up from 5.52%)

2.96% Moving from Strata Property to Single Family Home (up from 2.76%)

3.76% Recreational Property (down from 5.25%)

1.34% Retirement Home/Seniors Community (down from 2.49%)

Buyer Type (Family Dynamic):

27.03% Two Parent family/children (up from 22.47% in April)

24.86% Couple without children (down...

Well, it's now June and the Kelowna Real Estate Market is in full swing - or is it? It certainly doesn't feel like it.

Overall, the May Real Estate market has been one of the quieter ones I have experienced, in a while. For example, there are usually lots of Parents looking for Condos, ready for the Students attending UBCO, and I have only just started to see inquiries and sales, with more showings in the last week.

There is certainly plenty of choice in the U District, and Condo sales in Quail Ridge, also seem subdued.

In other areas of the market, it remains 'patchy', as Buyers are convinced prices are going to soften further.

Certainly, at the 'higher-end' of the market, they could be right, but I do sense that some Sellers will wait, rather than list lower.

Kelowna & Central Okanagan Real Estate Sales May 2019.

The snow finally left us in March and as the month progressed I did see 'limited' evidence of Buyers starting to look.

Interestingly though, many times I saw in the feedback, "this was just a fact-finding mission'.

If we think about it logically, Buyers coming up from Vancouver and the Lower Mainland have seen quite a downturn in their own Markets, which they haven't been used to for some time, and a number of Buyers looking to move from Alberta, are having difficulty selling their homes.

This translates into negative sentiment about the Real Estate Market, in general, and they are thinking the market is going to fall further, so they will wait.

I can certainly understand why they would say that, with inventory rising and sales relatively slow.

The biggest concern across the whole Canadian Real Estate Market is the Mortgage Stress Test. This is not only affecting First-Time Buyers (who are the Engine Room of the Market), but also Buyers well up the chain. I am hearing evidence of many...

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 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

Snapshot of the Kelowna Real Estate market for last month.

Read Trish's full report for last month at https://www.trishcenci.com/blog.html/kelowna-real-estate-market-news-february-2019-5948169

Kind Regards

Trish Cenci