Kelowna Real Estate News

June 2016

We hinted it already last year and now it’s in full swing! Breaking records after records, and maybe more to come.

Everyday we see headlines and we hear predictions like, bubble, soaring, unaffordable, unsustainable, inflated, exorbitant and must cool market. In Toronto, people are begging,dropping off letters, posting online ads, and even personal visits to homes so they can buy in Toronto now.

This is what we’re starting to see in Kelowna too now. We think it has to do with the low dollar attracting foreigners into Vancouver. The Vancouver buyers who sell their homes for $ Millions are buying in lower priced areas, millennials as first time buyers and Alberta baby boomers retiring. Record sales; and our highest number of sales to listings ratio. This has been Kelowna’s best year by far with our average price making it over over $600,000 for the first time ever. Imagine 735 sales including Apartments, Townhomes and Single Family Dwellings in May, compared to 2015 just 481 units sold, which means a 53% increase or it is just about double our average in the last 10 years. Finally lot sales also picked up with double the average of the last few years!

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Sales in the Single Family Dwellings (SFD) reached 426 this May which makes it the highest May ever in the history of Kelowna. This is 46% above the 292 sales in May 2015 and is 67% above the 10 year average. The second best May was in 2007 with 330 SFD selling.

Listings there are currently 859 active listings, which is 29% less than May 2015. This is the lowest inventory in May since 2006.

Listings vs. Sales 49.59% of the listing inventory sold in May which is the highest ever for May or any month. This means we are in a deep sellers market, especially under $700,000. Generally, analysts say that downward pressure on home prices occurs when the ratio dips below the 12 per cent mark, while home prices often experience upward pressure when it reaches the 20 to 22 per cent range in a particular community for a sustained period of time.

The Single Family Dwellings (SFD) average price for Kelowna was $601,228 for May which is the first time ever over $600K and up 19.23% over last year’s May.

Apartment and Townhomes

A total of 309 units sold in Kelowna and area this May. 55% of the listing inventory sold in Townhomes and 44% of Apartments sold. That is another big record for Kelowna.

Lots

41 lots sold on MLS out of 444 available this May which makes it a low 9% sell to inventory ratio. We haven’t seen this many sales for a long time.

Million $ Plus

52 sales in one month, unbelievable! compare this to year 2000 when we recorded only 9 transactions all year. The total in 2013 was126 sales over $1 Mill!
The MLS system shows that a total of 52 properties of all kinds sold over $1 Million. 49 residential properties sold in May over $1 Million. These were: 13 Lakefront Homes, 23 Single Family Dwellings, 8 Acreages, 2 Farms and 3 Commercial properties sold over $1 Million.
144 sales over $1Mill first 5 months including 16 commercial units compared to 68 sales in 2015 including 11 commercial units that is a 211% increase. Total increase in sales the first 5 months was 31%.

Final Comment

Kelowna is booming but nothing compared to Vancouver and Toronto which is good news. The average home price in Toronto shot up by 13% to breach the $1.2-million mark. Similarly, Vancouver saw an astounding 25 % growth to hit a $1.3-million average. Now that lot sales are up, we will attract more construction workers to Kelowna and they also need accommodation. This means that another unit is needed and so on. This will fuel this active market even more.

Major Cities Report

Victoria

Feverish Pace of Sales Continues in Victoria Real Estate Market

A total of 1,289 properties sold in the Victoria Real Estate Board region this May, an increase of 42.4 per cent compared to the 905 properties sold in the same month last year. Inventory levels remain lower than the previous year, with 2,406 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Services at the end of May, 40.5 per cent fewer than the 4,043 active listings at the end of May 2015. The Multiple Listing Services Home Price Index benchmark value for a single family home in the Victoria Core in May 2015 was $593,200. The benchmark value for the same home in May 2016 has increased by 19 per cent to $706,500. The sale to listing ratio is about 50%.

Vancouver

Demand Remains Elevated Across the Metro Vancouver Housing Market

Metro Vancouver* homes continue to sell at an unprecedented rate in communities across the region. Residential property sales on the region’s Multiple Listing Services (MLS®) totalled 4,769 in May 2016, an increase of 17.6 per cent from the 4,056 sales recorded in May 2015 and a decrease of 0.3 per cent compared to April 2016 when 4,781 homes sold. Last month’s sales were 35.3 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month and rank as the highest sales total on record for May. New listings for detached, attached and apartment properties in Metro Vancouver totalled 6,289 in May 2016. This represents an increase of 11.5 per cent compared to the 5,641 units listed in May 2015 and a 2.6 per cent increase compared to April 2016 when 6,127 properties were listed. The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 7,726, a 37.3 per cent decline compared to May 2015 (12,336) and a 2.3 per cent increase compared to April 2016 (7,550). The sales-to-active listings ratio for May 2016 is 61.7 per cent. The MLS® Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all residential properties in Metro Vancouver is currently $889,100. This represents a 29.7 per cent increase compared to May 2015. Sales of detached properties in May 2016 reached 1,865, an increase of 8.2 per cent from the 1,723 detached sales recorded in May 2015. The benchmark price for detached properties increased 36.9 per cent from May 2015 to $1,513,800. Apartment property increased 22.3 per cent from May 2015 to $485,000 and attached unit increased 24.9 per cent from May 2015 to $632,400.

Calgary

Housing Supply Swells in Cool Spring Market

Calgary’s housing inventory was on the rise once again in May as new listings climbed by 14 per cent and sales slowed to 1,923 units. The resale apartment market has been the most difficult for sellers. In May, the apartment benchmark price totaled $278,500, a monthly and year-over-year decline of 0.7 and 5.6 per cent. In the detached and attached markets, home prices totaled $500,500 and $332,100, a year-over-year decline of 3.4 and 4.3 per cent.

Edmonton

Relative to Other Markets in Alberta, Edmonton’s Resale Housing Market is Solid

Unit sales for single family detached homes were up 19.3% from April and up 3.8% year-over-year, with 1,119 selling in May across the Edmonton Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). Unit sales of duplexes and rowhouses increased 37.2% over April, and 23.03% over May 2015 with 203 units sold in the month. Condo sales were up 5.3% month-over-month, but down 18.2% year-over-year. All-residential sales at 1,771 were up more than 18% from April and down less than 1% compared to May of last year. The average single family detached home in the Edmonton CMA sold for $440,573 in May, virtually on par with April’s average price of $439,982, but down almost 3% compared to the average price of $453,748 in May 2015. Average condo prices at $254,555 are up over 1% month-over-month, and almost flat to last year. Duplex/rowhouse average prices increased compared to both the previous month and May 2015, up 3% and 1.5% respectively.

Toronto

Strong Sales Growth Continues in May

12,870 home sales reported through TREB’s MLS® System in May 2016. This result represented a new record for the month of May and a 10.6 per cent increase over the same period last year. In contrast, the number of new listings was down over the same time frame by 6.4 per cent. The MLS® Home Price Index Composite Benchmark was up by 15 per cent year-over year in May 2016. Similarly, the average selling price for all home types combined was up by 15.7 per cent over the same period.

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