Photo: The Canadian Press
The Interior real estate market continued to cool in June, a month that is usually red hot.
There were 1,330 residential sales last month in the Association of Interior Realtors region, which was down more than 12% from May and more than 21% from June 2023.
Meanwhile, benchmark prices fell in every housing category in the Central and North Okanagan.
“Much like the weather, real estate sales activity in June was not the typical seasonal activity that we have seen in recent years that tends to increase as the warmer climate arrives,” AIR president Kaytee Sharun said in a press release. “Well-priced properties are primed to move at a faster pace.
“It is important for buyers and sellers to take what you could call a balanced approach, which considers and factors in current market conditions, when navigating the real estate market.”
Listings continue to increase, which also helps to explain the cooling market. The Central Okanagan had the largest increase of active listings when compared to June 2023, as they were up 48.3%. Sharun said there is a reason for that.
“It is interesting to see most of the regions with the highest inventory increases are in areas where income-producing properties may be affected by government policies such as the short-term rental ban,” she said.
The benchmark price of a single-family home in the Central Okanagan dropped slightly but remains in seven figures at $1,009,200. The Central Okanagan townhouse benchmark fell to $717,000, and the apartment-condo mark dipped to $489,300.
It was the same story in the North Okanagan, where single-family (-1.7%), townhouse (-4.6%) and condo-apartment (-3.9%) benchmark prices all declined from June.
The single-family benchmark price in the South Okanagan dropped to $748,100, but the townhouse ($527,000) and apartment-condo ($449,400) marks both increased from last month.
Kamloops was the only Thompson-Okanagan city in which prices increased in June in all three categories, but the jumps were minor.