an abundance of inventory to begin the new year The Central Okanagan housing market finished the year with seven consecutive months of declining sales counts, leaving inventory bloated to kick off 2024.
(an MOI of less than 5 reflects conditions more favourable to sellers; 5-8 MOI reflects balanced conditions; and an MOI over 8 reflects a buyers’ market). In fact, conditions in each home type segment of the market favour buyers, with detached MOI at 12.5 and townhome and condo MOIs sitting at 11.8. As we begin 2024 the most important factor impacting our housing market will undoubtedly be the timing and speed of Bank of Canada interest rate cuts. Once monetary loosening begins, we can reasonably expect some of the sidelined demand to return to the market, boosting sales counts. In the meantime, the buyers who do decide to participate in the residential real estate market will find significantly more options available to them.
For much of 2023, the dominant theme of the Central Okanagan housing market was that high interest rates were quelling demand. And as we’ve noted in previous editions of the rennie review, the result was declining sales counts through the second half of the year. This sales trend not only continued through December, but it also meant that inventory finished the year in an atypical place. There were 1,876 MLS homes available for sale in the Central Okanagan at the end of December, which was not only 30% higher than at the end of 2022, but was also 28% above the past 10-year December average and was the largest tally for any December since 2013. And while December’s listings did fall by 16% from November, this decline was actually slightly less than the typical seasonal drop-off of 17%.
Sales counts have continued to decline, with just 154 MLS transactions in the Central Okanagan last month—a 31% decline from November and the seventh consecutive monthly drop. This month- over-month attrition was greater than the typical November-to-December decrease (of 24%), with sales coming in 14% below those of December 2022 and 43% below the past-decade average for the month. Throughout all of 2023, only 3,795 sales were recorded, which was 17% less than in 2022, 26% fewer than the long-run average, and the lowest yearly total since 2013. In spite of the relatively limited number of buyers active in the market of late, the region’s supply and demand dynamics yielded a fourth consecutive month of conditions that roundly favoured buyers in December, with the months-of- inventory (MOI) metric sitting at 12.2
3 Copyright ©️ 2024 rennie group of companies. All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced or distributed, in whole or in part, without the prior written permission of the rennie group of companies. Current as of January 22, 2024. All data from Association of Interior Realtors & rennie. While the information and data contained herein has been obtained from sources deemed reliable, accuracy cannot be guaranteed. rennie group of companies does not assume responsibility or liability for any inaccuracies. The recipient of the information should take steps as the recipient may deem necessary to verify the information prior to placing any reliance upon the information. The information contained within this report should not be used as an opinion of value, such opinions should and 2 can be obtained from a rennie and associates advisor. All information is subject to change and any property may be withdrawn from the market at any time without notice or obligation to the recipient from rennie group of companies. E.&O.E.
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