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Kelowna's housing market is stagnant

Sluggish, slack, listless, inactive, quiet, slow or lethargic.

Use whatever word you like to describe Kelowna's lacklustre housing market.

Just released statistics from the Association of Interior Realtors shows that 238 homes of all kinds (single-family, townhouse and condominium) sold in Kelowna in September.

That's down from the 274 sales in August.

So, that's actually a drop rather than a stagnation.

Where the real flatline is evident is with benchmark selling price.

In September, the benchmark selling price of a typical single-family home in the Central Okanagan was $1,018,000, just $100 off the benchmark of $1,018,100 in August.

You can't get much less of a change than that.

<who>Photo credit: Realtor.ca</who>This four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,800-square-foot house on Borden Avenue in Kelowna is listed for sale for $1,025,000, which is just a little more than the $1,018,000 benchmark selling prices of a typical single-family home in the Central Okanagan in September.

Last month, the benchmark for a typical townhouse was $725,200, up a bit from $723,100 in August.

For a typical condo, last month's benchmark was $505,600, just a $100 nudge from August's $505,500.

Sales are way down from post-COVID 2021 and 2022 when people went on a buying frenzy to get what they wanted where they wanted and forcing prices up to record levels.

For single-family that was $1,131,800 in April 2022, for a townhouse $829,000 in May 2022 and a condo $557,700 in April 2022.

<who>Photo credit: Association of Interior Realtors</who>Kaytee Sharun is the president of the 2,600-member Association of Interior Realtors.

"While active listings are trending upwards, September marked a seemingly sluggish month for sales activity despite anticipation of recent (mortgage interest) rate cuts potentially providing some relief to rate-sensitive buyers," said Kaytee Sharun, president of the 2,600-member association.

"Stimulus from recent policy changes, such as the potential for 30-year mortgage amortization and the increase in insured mortgage rate cap, could bolster real estate activity in the coming months."

However, for now, the market remains lethargic as many potential buyers sit on the fence waiting for mortgage interest rates to dip and determine if a 30-year mortgage amortization for higher insured cap will actually help them.

"There may still be some disconnect between buyers' and sellers' expectations," said Sharun. "Sellers (are) potentially holding out for a higher payoff while buyers are continuing to take a more cautious approach, which could potentially be contributing to slower decision-making."

Thumbnail photos from Realtor.ca



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