Kelowna: What a start for 2010…. January in Kelowna. Hardly any winter and the January with the highest average price for single family homes of any January ever, in the history of the Central Okanagan area. Compare this to 12 months ago at $411,591 or 24 month ago where the price was just a few hundred dollars below this month's record of $484,065.
We had fantastic activity in the upper price range. 6 residential properties sold over $1 Million Dollars out of 350 available. Only 4 sold between $800,000 and a million out of 180 available. 17 between $600,000 and $800,000 with about 350 for sale. That means 2-5% of the homes are selling in the upper price range, compared to over 12% selling in the medium to lower price range. With lots, we see about 2.5% selling or 16 from an inventory of 660. Condo townhomes and apartments are at about 6% sales or 75 out of 1300. Big improvement from over a year ago.... but also way behind from two years ago.

We are looking forward to a great Olympic exposure to the world. BC will be in the spotlight. Looking ahead, it’s difficult to know exactly what the Olympic effect will be on our market in February. Although I think it’s fair to say it should be a quieter period for home buyers and sellers and so, in fact, may be a good time for motivated buyers to search for properties.


 

Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

start this month

Major Cities Report
Victoria: January Real Estate Sales Herald Strong Start to the New Year. A total of 418 homes and other properties sold in January through the Victoria Real Estate Board’s Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®), up nearly 70 percent from the 247 sales in January of last year. Prices, meantime, remained stable The average price for single family homes sold in Greater Victoria last month was $644,678 down from $651,316 in December. Fifteen sales of over $1 million affected the overall average. The six-month average was $615,271.

Vancouver: Diverse selection and favourable interest rates continue to drive demand in the Greater Vancouver housing market. Vancouver reports that residential property sales in Greater Vancouver totalled 1,923 in January 2010, an increase of 152.4 per cent compared to January 2009 when 762 sales were recorded. The benchmark price for all residential properties in Greater Vancouver increased 17.2 per cent to $573,241 from $489,007 in January 2009. Although home prices in the region have largely returned to their previous peaks, we still see a significant number of first-time and move-up buyers in the market, thanks to low interest rates and the diverse range of properties available

Calgary: Affordability drives Calgary’s housing market. The number of single family homes sold in January 2010 in the city of Calgary was up 39 per cent from the same time a year ago Average Sale Price is at 441,217. The story for 2010 will be a balanced and steadier market. Just one year ago we were facing record low sales and more than 10 months of inventory.

Edmonton: Housing prices remained stable in January: Listing activity doubled. Compared to December, housing sales were down in January with 524 single family sales and 288 condominium sales. Total residential sales were 884 units – 154 ahead of last January. There were 2,199 residential listings added during January resulting in a 40% sales-to-listing ratio and a month-end inventory of 4,864 homes. Single family home prices on average were stable increasing minutely from $366,761 in December to $367,747 in January.

Toronto: Sales Start Off Strong in 2010 Greater Toronto REALTORS® reported 4,986 transactions through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) in January 2010. This result represented a large increase over the 2,670 sales in January 2009 because the cost of home ownership remained affordable The average home selling price in January 2010 climbed 19 per cent to $409,058, compared to 343,632 in the same month last year.