The benchmark price of a Central Okanagan single-family home has fallen back below the $1 million mark.
The Association of Interior Realtors (AIR) released its September statistics October 6 and the benchmark cost of a single-family home in the Kelowna, B.C., metropolitan area was down another 3.5 per cent, month-to-month, to $981,800.
That price is down $150,000—or 13.3 per cent—since it hit a high of $1,131,800 in April.
The last time the benchmark price was below $1 million in the Okanagan was November 2021, when it was $978,500.
Prices fell for other types of homes in the Central Okanagan, but not as drastically. The benchmark townhome cost dropped 0.3 per cent to $770,100, while the apartment/condominium mark fell 1.5 per cent to $519,000.
The same price drop is happening in the North Okanagan, where the single-family benchmark fell for the fourth month in a row. It was $731,800 in September, which was down 1 per cent from August.
In the South Okanagan, the average detached house price is now $710,664, down 18 per cent from the April 2022 peak.
“We are seeing that the Bank of Canada’s interest rate tightening in the last few months is keeping some buyers on the sidelines, although demand remains strong,” AIR president Lyndi Cruickshank said in a press release. “With no mortgage rate relief anticipated any time soon, some potential homeowners are constrained from being able to enter the real estate market.”
There were 1,084 residential sales across the entire AIR region, which includes the Okanagan, Kamloops, Kootenay and South Peace River regions. That was down more than 37 per cent from September 2021.
“While inventory levels have been climbing, it is still far below pre-pandemic listings levels and far below where it needs to for the needle to move into a balanced market,” Cruickshank said. “Pent-up demand is still outpacing supply. However, the increased levels now offer buyers greater options and opportunities than they experienced in early 2022.”
