North Okanagan

There was good news and bad news from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) regarding sales in the Okanagan-Shuswap in its September report.

Overall unit sales in both the Central Okanagan and Shuswap were down 14 per cent and 22 percent respectively from September 2011 with single family residential the hardest hit, dropping 33 per cent and 25 per cent, while sales in the North Okanagan were up 2 per cent per cent over last year with single family residential rising 28.6 per cent.

In the Shuswap overall unit sales declined 21.6 per cent in September compared to 2011 with 58 units valued at $16.1 million compared to 74 at $21.7 million last year.

Total residential sales dropped 35.5 per cent compared to 2011 (to 40 units valued at $13.1 million from 62 at $18.1 million).

Single family unit sales for the month slipped 33.3 per cent compared to last year (to 16 units at $4.9 million from 24 at $7.6 million).

However, year-to-date figures for unit sales in 2012 improved 5.2 per cent compared to the first nine months last year (to 570 units at $170.0 million from 542 at $167.7 million).

New listings taken during the month were down 6.5 per cent over last September (143 compared to 153), but inventory rose 4.7 per cent over 2011 (to 1,793 from 1,712).    

"While the Okanagan-Shuswap market saw steady improvement for five consecutive months (April through August), overall sales were down 11 per cent board-wide compared to last September," says OMREB President Rob Shaw.

"With the diversity in the OMREB Board area, there are monthly up and down fluctuations in each zone, depending on the community, housing type and price point."