We are halfway through 2020; what a wild ride it has been thus far. Do you remember all the perfect vision memes going around as we rang in the new year? Ironically this year has been more blurry than ever before and we continue to experience uncertainty about how the Covid-19 pandemic will affect us in both the short and long term. One thing that I am certain about: June was an incredible month for the Kelowna real estate market!
The real estate market in Kelowna and the Central Okanagan slowed to a crawl back in April along with markets across the globe. Throughout May we started to see more and more activity but sales remained down considerably over May 2019. June however has been a roaring month and I’m thrilled to report that we are back to seeing an increase in sales transaction year-over-year. And not just a little increase - June saw a 76% increase over May for a total of 483 residential properties sold! This is a solid 7.1% increase over June 2019 and even a hair more than June 2018. We’ve also reached an average selling price of $608,929 - the 3rd highest on record! Now before you start thinking everyone is extremely bullish on our market it would be wise to consider that June likely saw many market participants, both sellers and purchasers, enter into transactions that they would have entered into in April or May but delayed due to the pandemic. When you look at year-to-date transaction numbers you’ll see we are still 13.8% behind 2019.
Leading the way in sales were Single Family Detached homes. There were 261 Kelowna homes (and area) sold in June. This is up 22.54% from June 2019! Wow! The average selling price was $748,428. This is a significant increase, up 8.12%, from June 2019 when it was $692,246 and is just $35,000 shy of the highest ever record! That record which was set in July 2018 was an anomaly that year, rising sharply from June and then dropping again in August. There is an immense appetite to purchase Single Family Detached homes in Kelowna and elsewhere in the Okanagan Valley right now. It took an average of 61 days to sell these homes. This represents a slower moving market than what would be expected for a busy June (compare this to 42 days in June 2018); however, when you consider that any home listed in April or May had to endure unprecedented selling conditions it’s not a surprise. I predict we will see the selling time speed up as we move through July. As of the end of June there are only 1,070 Single Family Detached homes listed for sale. This compares to 1309 at the end of June 2019. There were 472 new listings in June which was up more than 35% from the 349 new listings in May but we are still starving for inventory. There are currently 18.26% less listings than at this time last year and we’ve just had more sales. Crunch the numbers and you get 4.10 months of inventory. We are once again experiencing a Seller’s Market; the first time in more than 2 years!
Central Okanagan Avg. Selling Price for Past 12 Months by Market Segment
Still behind last year but up nearly double from last month are Kelowna Condo sales (and area). There were 97 condo sales transactions in June. This is down 4.9% from June 2019. The average selling price was $339,241. This is down 3.21% from June 2019. The most notable stat with regards to condo sales is the time to sell. Condo residences that sold in June were only on the market for an average of 63 days which although quite a bit slower than the 55 days record in June of 2019, is much faster than the 82 days recorded just last month. I’ve personally had clients experience multiple offers and accepted offers within days (2 cases within just 24 hours) of being on the market! Condos are the only segment to have more inventory available to purchase now than at
this time last year with 718 active listings. Listings are up 6.21% compared to the 676 at the end of June 2019. There are 7.4 months of inventory which is indicative of a buyers market although it doesn’t seem to be the case in all parts of the segment as I noted earlier. This is a good reminder that it is prudent to take a deep dive into very specific market conditions, be it by neighbourhood or product category, when determining values and market conditions.
2019 was a phenomenal year for Kelowna Townhouse sales combined with a steady climb in valuations. This continued through the early parts of 2020 and after the Covid-19 pandemic pause appears to be back with another 77 townhouse sales transactions recorded in June. This is down ever so slightly from 80 in June 2019. The average selling price was $524,638. This is up 3.19% from June 2019. It took an average of 73 days to sell these homes which was quite a bit slower than the 56 days it took last year. Townhouse inventory is sitting at 408 listings compared to 425 last year. There are just 5.3 months of inventory which is indicative of a balanced market. However, looking forward, unless there is a surge of new inventory this is like to drop in what appears to be strong conditions for sales in $400-600,000 price category - which saw 27.5% of all sales in June.
when there were nearly 2,900 listings. Of course with Condo inventory up and Townhouse inventory right on par, it’s the Single Family Detached homes that are seeing the lack of inventory. With just 5.27 months of inventory overall we are likely in for a busy summer in Kelowna real estate in all segments but especially for Single Family homes. Presumably now is a really good time to sell your home. One last interesting note: 1 out of every 6 homes that was listed for sale in the first 2 weeks of June sold within the same month.
It looks like we are in for a rainy Canada Day. It’s the perfect year for it considering most events are cancelled. But after that the forecast shows a week solid of sunny days at 24 degrees. This is one of the many great reasons to live in Kelowna and the Central Okanagan. There are less tourists around this year so if you live here take the opportunity to get outside and see more of your amazing City. Support a local restaurant or business by stopping in for lunch on a patio or an ice cream by the waterfront. For those that don’t live here, maybe you should think about moving to Kelowna and start living the good life.
All data is from OMREB/MLS® System. Interpretations of the data is done with the utmost care and attention, however, errors and omissions may apply. Selling and purchasing real estate comes with risk and should be discussed in depth with your real estate agent of choice.