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The record setting building boom Kelowna enjoyed over the early part of the decade has come crashing down.
Spurred on in part by large projects such as Aqua, Water Street by the Park and the UBCO downtown tower, building permit values in Kelowna topped $1 billion for three consecutive years culminating in a record $1.756 billion in 2023.
However, the absence of such projects and a dwindling number of building permit applications sent the overall value of building permits plummeting 63 per cent to just $646 million in 2024.
Both the building permit value and number of applications fell below the city’s 10-year average.
The volume of development applications, another high-level measurement, also dropped below the 10-year average.
“Strong building permit numbers from 2022 and 2023 led to strong new home occupancy numbers in 2024,” a council report states.
“However, the city issued building permits for only 1,603 units in 2024 (4,000 issued in 2023). This is likely an early indicator that occupancies in 2026 and 2027 will be down.
A council report detailing these numbers states development application volume has generally been a leading indicator of rapid growth or recession but because of legislative and zoning changes enacted over the past year, it is no longer a reliable indicator on its own.
The building permit numbers are also below the level needed to meet targets set out as part of the federal Housing Accelerator Fund grant.
One of the many conditions tied to the $31.5 million grant is the issuance of building permits for 7,430 residential units by 2026. The city is averaging 156 permits per month which is short of the 210 per month required to meet the target.
The city says it has completed about 70 per cent of tasks required through the HAF designed to spur on housing development.
The initial HAF installment of $7.9 million has been spent while the second $7.9 million has been allocated for land acquisition for affordable housing, staffing, consulting and infrastructure projects.
