There's encouraging news if you’re one of those people looking for a home in the Okanagan.

The number of sales of single-family homes and condos in the Central Okanagan are beginning to close in on last year’s figures. MLS® sales activity of single family homes in the area was 189 for May 2009, a mere 4.55% down from 198 sales in May 2008.

The number of condo sales was down only 4% from last year, 72 to 75 respectively.

Townhome sales show a solid increase of 60 properties sold in May 2009 over 41 sales in the same month last year — an increase of over 46%, the largest increase in the market.

The average price for a single detached residential property sits at $449,870 last month compared to May 2008’s figure of $531,150 with median prices comparing at $425,000 to last year’s figure of $497,500. Both of these statistics can help determine market trends, and current MLS® data is having a stabilizing effect on home prices and showing a trend towards a more balanced market.

Potential buyers were asked to rank their top incentives for purchasing a first property. While home prices and interest rates took the number one and two rankings, respectively, the third most popular incentive was the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit. The recently introduced Home Renovation Tax Credit for 2009 was cited by 42 per cent of potential first-time buyers as either ‘very likely’ or ‘somewhat likely’ to impact their purchasing decision.

In provinces such as British Columbia where high housing prices have kept some buyers out of the market in recent years, 92 per cent of potential first-time buyers are now motivated by low interest rates and 96 per cent say lower home prices are likely to prompt them to buy.

For a complete report contact Rob Marak at: robmarak@royallepage.ca

Average House Price in May 2009 $ 449,867

Median House Price in May 2009 $ 425,000

Number of houses listed last month: 454

Number of lakeshore homes sold last month: 5

Average Mobile Home Price: $ 102,533

Dollar value of sales in May 2009 $157,644,240

Dollar value of sales in May 2008 $185,540,096

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It isn’t time to stop, it’s time to move ahead. With a project for downtown Kelowna, the Aquilini Investment Group are doing just that through a development called “24” in the 400 block of Bernard between Lululemon and the Scotia Bank.

It is exciting because it is what has been needed for so many years: a place where there are people living and doing business in the core of the city. What a change that will be for downtown Kelowna, with eyes on the street and people walking about doing their shopping, going out for a coffee, reading the paper, and most of all talking to others in the community.

The Aquilini family is well known to all of us, of course, as the owners of the Vancouver Canucks and GM place. For years they have been builders and developers of communities in the province, and they are the developers of this project.

The building has been designed by Penticton based architects Bevanda Architecture Inc., a studio for Architecture and Planning led by Nick Bevanda and supported by a talented and dedicated staff which includes three Associates: Justin Marchiel, Mark Nielsen and Andrew MacPhail.

The builder is Edgecomb Builders of Kelowna. Kevin Edgecomb has built quite a solid reputation for his company with the quality of work they produce. This will be the company’s largest project to date and they’re excited about it, as they should be. The growth of the company is quite spectacular when you realize they started in the high-end home building business in 1992.

I believe there are a lot of people who would like to live downtown, just as there are businesses that would like to locate there. What you have to do is go down to the presentation centre at 450 Bernard and see what they have to offer. From the specs it looks like there is a price for everyone.

I think it's great and about time.

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