Residential real estate activity in May showed signs of heading into a balanced market as inventory climbs, reports the Association of Interior Realtors (the Association).
A total of 1,512 residential unit sales were recorded across the Association region in May coming in above April’s 1,282 units yet 10.7% below May 2023’s units sold.
“Market activity last month has risen compared to the month before. However, it’s not surprising that this year’s May activity is lower than last year’s, considering the market was fairly heated a year ago,” says the Association of Interior Realtors President Kaytee Sharun.
“This is a pretty typical level of market activity that one would expect to see in the Spring months.”
“There seems to be a return of consumer confidence with the gap between buyers’ and seller’s expectations narrowing that has helped ramp up market activity after a muted first quarter.”
In the Kootenay and Boundary region, unit sales saw a decrease of 15.5% compared to sales activity in May 2023 with 288 sales recorded last month, which is up from April’s 246 units sold.
There were 604 new listings recorded in the Kootenay and Boundary region in May marking a 6.5% increase compared to May 2023 and an increase from April’s 574 new listings.
The overall active listings in the Kootenay region saw a 24.7% increase compared to May 2023 with 1,615 listings overall.
“The Kootenay region is a fairly reliable market in that it is consistently steady in terms of sales and inventory activity,” says Sharun.
“Buyers are able to find attractive alternatives to purchase at a more affordable price point than they may in other markets.”
The benchmark price, a better representation of value compared to the average or median price as it represents a dwelling of ‘typical attributes’, saw percentage increases in the Kootenay region in all housing categories compared to the same month last year, with the highest percentage increase of 15.4% recorded in the condominium category, coming in at $336,300.
The benchmark price for townhomes saw a 4.6% increase in year-over-year comparison coming in at $493,700 and the benchmark price for single-family homes were up 6.8% coming in at $596,200.
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