Property sales continue to plunge

Photo: Contributed

Property sales in February were lower than levels seen last year, according to the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB).

Most of the markets around the province saw lower sales with not much change from January.

“Overall sales for the month were down 15 per cent board-wide compared to last year at this time,” says OMREB President Rob Shaw.

“While at a lower level than hoped for, sales are steady but tend to vary among property types month by month and zone by zone due to the divergence in our market areas.”

Sales in the north zone (Predator Ridge to Enderby) dropped 10 per cent and sales volume was down 24.6 per cent – from 89 units in 2010 to 80 units.

While inventory slightly dropped in February (0.8 per cent) from the previous year, the 298 new listings taken for the month showed a 13.1 per cent decline compared to the second month of 2012.

“We remain cautiously optimistic that the second quarter of 2013 will see an improvement in our board area after the much-anticipated transition back to PST/GST is complete, spring begins to unfold and the better weather sparks more buyer interest,” Shaw notes.