| | | | Kelowna Real Estate News February 2024 Stats As we move out of the two slowest months of the year (December and January), the market will start to build momentum. Listings have begun to ramp up, and we are still over the 10-year average for inventory. It’s sales that are lagging behind in the numbers, but the market feels like it’s waking up; the eyes are open, but it’s still in bed. We are seeing more activity in select segments of the market, even multiple offers on rare occasions.
In short, inventory is elevated, sales are slow = we are still in a buyers’ market.
 The BC Government announced changes to the first time buyers exemptions, which is LONG overdue. For the last 10 years, first time buyers were exempt from Property Transfer Tax if the property was under $500,000, but if it was over $525,000, they lost all benefits and paid the full tax.
As of April 1, if a first time buyer purchases a home up to $835,000, the first $500,000 of transfer tax is free, they pay the balance, a savings of $8,000.
 SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
 Benchmark Price Trend (3 months) 11% of listings selling 80% of sales are under $1.20M For the first time since August, there was an uptick in the percentage of listings selling, inching us a little closer to a balanced market. Listings have continued to climb and are 1/3 higher than the February average.
Sales are still struggling, with the numbers coming in 1/3 under the February average for 10 years. In fact, sales were the lowest in February since 2009, 15 years ago.
That being said, the benchmark price has indicated a 5% increase in value since December’s low – a surprisingly impressive jump over 3 months. Seasonally, this is typical, but not to that extent.
The high end $2M+ market is still extremely slow with only 3 of 136 homes selling in February.
The least expensive sale was a 1,000sqft detached home for $480,000 in La Casa Resort, Fintry.
 TOWNHOMES
 Benchmark Price Trend (3 months) 13% of listings selling 80% of sales are under $800K Townhomes are outperforming the other segments with 13% of the listings selling – this puts them closest to a balanced market, but not quite there yet. Although our listing inventory is 25% higher than the February average, it’s still less than we had for sale in the Februarys from 2009-2015 where there was an average of 450 properties for sale. Compared to the 328 available today, it doesn’t sound so bad.
Similar to Single Family Homes, sales are 1/3 less than we would like to see this time of year with only 41 units selling, but it is 14% more than last year. Only 1 unit sold over $1M, which was at Big White
The benchmark price is slowely inching upwards over the last few months, but otherwise stable.
 CONDOS
Benchmark Price Trend (3 months) 11% of listings selling
80% of sales are under $550K As is the theme, listings are 40% higher than the 10-year average, and the highest in 10 years. We are starting to see some short term rental-type units coming to market, but not a flood as originally thought by many.
Playa Del Sol: 10 of 283 units for sale (9 listings in last 60 days)
Discovery Bay: 19 of 263 units for sale (15 listed in last 60 days)
Sunset Waterfront: 4 of 131 units for sale
Comparing Februarys, sales are the lowest they’ve been for 10 years, which isn’t surprising given the rest of the market. Only 1 unit sold over $1M last month, located in Sopa Square
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“We saw glimmers of a start to the spring market over the course of February,” said 2024 Victoria Real Estate Board Chair Laurie Lidstone. “In addition to the increase in sales, more than five hundred new listings came to market when compared to last year’s inventory numbers. This much needed inventory gives buyers more selection and more time to make their purchasing decisions. We’ve also seen prices continue to remain stable, which is excellent for buyers and sellers because it makes the transaction much more predictable.”
There were 2,364 active listings for sale on the Victoria Real Estate Board Multiple Listing Service® at the end of February 2024, an increase of 10.5 per cent compared to the previous month of January and a 30.7 per cent increase from the 1,809 active listings for sale at the end of February 2023.
Source Vancouver Home Sellers Active – Bringing Much Needed Inventory To Housing Market Greater Vancouver REALTORS® reports that residential sales in the region totaled 2,070 in February 2024, a 13.5 per cent increase from the 1,824 sales recorded in February 2023. This was 23.3 per cent below the 10-year seasonal average (2,699).
“While the pace of home sales started the year off briskly, the pace of newly listed properties in January was slower by comparison. A continuation of this pattern in February would have been concerning, as it could quickly tilt the market towards overheated conditions.” said Andrew Lis, REBGV director of economics and data analytics “With new listings up about 31 per cent year-over-year in February, this will relieve some of the pressure that was building in January and offer buyers more choice as we enter the spring and summer markets.”
The total number of properties currently listed for sale on the MLS® system in Metro Vancouver is 9,634, a 16.3 per cent increase compared to February 2023 (8,283). This is three per cent above the 10-year seasonal average (9,352).
Source Calgary Low Inventory And High Demand Drive Price Gains In February New listings continued to rise in February, reaching 2,711 units. However, the rise in new listings supported further growth in sales, which increased by nearly 23 per cent compared to last year for a total of 2,135 units. The shift in sales and new listings kept the sales-to-new listings ratio exceptionally high at 79 per cent, ensuring inventories remained near historic lows. Low supply and higher sales caused the months of supply to fall to just over one month, nearly as tight as levels seen during the spring of last year.
“Purchasers are acting quickly when new supply comes onto the market, preventing inventory growth in the market,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, Chief Economist at CREB®. “It is this strong demand and low supply that continues to drive price gains in Calgary. The biggest supply challenge is for homes priced under $500,000, which saw inventories fall by 31 per cent compared to last February. At the same time, we are starting to see supply levels rise for higher priced homes supporting more balanced conditions in the upper end.”
In February, the unadjusted benchmark price was $585,000, an over two per cent gain compared to last month and over 10 per cent higher than levels reported at this time last year.
Source
Edmonton
Housing Market Heating Up For An Early Spring There were a total of 1,966 residential unit sales in the Greater Edmonton Area (GEA) real estate market for February 2024, showing increases of 36.9% over January 2024, and 52.6% over February 2023. New residential listings amounted to 2,762, a number 27.7% higher than in January 2024, and 9.3% higher than February 2023. Overall inventory in the GEA increased 5.8% from January 2024, but is still 14.3% lower than February 2023.
“It’s expected that the spring market will be busy this year, but when you see detached single family homes are already selling 60.5% more units than last year, it makes you sit up and take notice,” says REALTORS® Association of Edmonton 2023 Board Chair Melanie Boles. “If the month-to month change in sales continues at this pace, then it will be a hot market indeed.”
Total residential average prices came in at $407,458, a 2.3% increase from January 2024, and a 10.4% increase from February 2023.
Source Toronto Buyers Re-Enter The GTA Housing Market In February Greater Toronto Area home sales and new listings were up on an annual and monthly basis in February 2024. Selling prices also edged upward compared to a year earlier. Population growth and a resilient regional economy continued to support the overall demand for housing. Higher borrowing costs kept home sales below the February sales record reached in 2021.
“We have recently seen a resurgence in sales activity compared to last year. The market assumption is that the Bank of Canada has finished hiking rates. Consumers are now anticipating rate cuts in the near future. A growing number of homebuyers have also come to terms with elevated mortgage rates over the past two years. To minimize higher monthly payments, some buyers have likely saved up a larger down payment, chosen to purchase a less-expensive home type and/or looked to a different location in the GTA,” said TRREB President Jennifer Pearce.
Home selling prices in February 2024 remained similar to February 2023. The MLS® Home Price Index Composite benchmark edged up by 0.4 per cent. The average selling price of $1,108,720 increased by a modest 1.1 per cent. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, both the MLS® HPI Composite and the average selling price edged upward.
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