Spring real estate trends arrive early as number of home sales jump in January – Kelowna News
Photo: The Canadian Press
It normally takes until February for home sales to start ticking up.
This year it started in January.
Association of Interior Realtors on Monday released its January data, which included an increase of 75 more sales than December across the entire association, which includes the Okanagan, Kamloops, Kootenay and South Peace River regions.
“Typically, we see less sales activity in the winter than the summer,” AIR president Chelsea Mann said in a press release. “However, not usually straight out of the gate after the holiday season. It seems spring may be arriving early in terms of real estate activity along with the warmer temperatures.”
Most benchmark prices also increased in the Central and North Okanagan, but it was the opposite in the South Okanagan and Kamloops.
The Central Okanagan single-family benchmark increased 2.4% from December to $989,800, while the condo price surged 1% to $485,400.
The North Okanagan single-family ($728,100), townhouse ($610,100) and condo ($325,100) prices all jumped from December.
The South Okanagan had the largest decreases from December, with the single-family mark falling 6.1% to $670,700, the townhouse price dropping 7.6% to $467,100 and the condo cost plunging 10% to $403,500.
Kamloops prices in all three housing categories varied no more than 1.2% from December.
Corresponding with the price drops in the South Okanagan was a substantial increase in new listings, leaping from 133 in December to 306 in January.
“It is promising to see active listings trending at an upward trajectory despite being slightly under what we would like to see,” Mann said. “With the infusion of much needed inventory, we are seeing a relatively balanced market when looking at sales to active listings ratio.”
There were 16.5% more homes on the market in January than there were last year at this time across the AIR region.
