Slowdown in South Okanagan real estate market

PENTICTON – Home sales took a plunge in the South Okanagan in September.

The latest statistics from the South Okanagan Real Estate Board indicate the number of homes sold declined 46.9 per cent over September 2017 with only 119 units sold in September this year compared to 225 sold during the same month in 2017.

Year-to-year statistics show home sales are down 20 per cent so far in 2018 compared to the same period last year from 1,977 to 1,576 respectively. The average price of a home in the South Okanagan in September was $362,320 compared to $421,116 a year ago, which is a drop of 14.2 per cent.

Real Estate Board President Linda Devreux says real estate activity in the South Okanagan “came off the boil sharply over the first half of the year, and is currently running at below-average levels.”

The slowdown in demand coupled with a rising supply has returned the market to balanced territory, which has resulted in a reduction in price gains, Devreux says.

She calls the decline in average price in September “a compositional thing.”

“It seems to be the result of very little going on above the $1 million mark, compared to last September,” she says.

Housing inventory is up, but still below other years over the past decade.

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