Okanagan housing market slows down in April amid rising inventory

Photo: The Canadian Press

Inventory and interest rates are rising, which means real estate prices are starting to slow down and, in some cases, even dropping.

That was the story on Wednesday when the Association of Interior Realtors released its April statistics, which showed large inventory increases across the board.

As a result, the benchmark price of a single-family home in the Central Okanagan increased only 0.3% to $1,131,800, which was its smallest jump since a decrease last September. There were 670 homes on the market last month, which was more than double the amount that were available in February.

There were 1,708 sales across the AIR region last month, which was down nearly 32% from last April’s record monthly number.

“It is important to remember that this is not the same market we had a year ago,” new AIR president Lyndi Cruickshank said in a press release. “For almost the entire year in 2021 we had record highs each month, so to say sales are down does not mean they are low. They are just lower in comparison to a time of unusual real estate market activity.

“The current rising interest rate environment will naturally slow things down, bringing real estate activity back to a healthier market—the transition of which we are starting to see reflected in the number of sales and in the way real estate transactions are transpiring.”

Even though inventory is up, it is still lagging behind average levels.

“The lack of inventory is still putting upward pressure on prices,” Cruickshank said. “Despite an increase in new listings, housing supply remains light, which points to a problem we’ve been stressing for a while: a generalized lack of housing supply. What we need is more homes getting on to market to meet demand, and that is the real challenge.”

The benchmark townhouse price in the Central Okanagan dropped 0.5% in April, checking in at $754,200, while there was no change to the apartment/condominium benchmark of $557,400.

The benchmark price of a single-family home in the North Okanagan increased only 1.1%, to $788,600, likely due to a big jump in inventory. There were 227 homes on the market last month, compared to just 89 in January and 169 in March.

One of the largest price jumps last month was in the North Okanagan townhouse category, which increased 5.9% to $514,900.

Photo: Contributed