kelowna ’ s sellers ’ market will be short-lived Sales counts slowed in the Central Okanagan in June after a spring surge, while supply grew. With the arrival of summer and the Bank of Canada raising interest rates once again, balanced conditions are likely already here.
room on your calculator to confirm as much. Considered on a home-type basis, the detached segment was fully balanced in June (with an MOI of 5.4), while condos and townhomes were firmly in sellers’ market territory (with MOIs of 3.5 and 4.0, respectively). Given this backdrop of market conditions, home values in June responded as one would expect, which is that prices increased for the home types that are considered sellers’ markets, but not for the balanced detached market. To wit, the median sold price of detached homes was down 7% versus May (to $971,520), while condo prices were up 0.2% (to $463,500) and townhomes were 0.7% higher (to $709,750). As summer progresses, expect further declines in overall sales counts as the market transitions to more balanced conditions. How long those conditions persist will be influenced by future Bank of Canada rate decisions, with buyers (especially of the first-time variety) continuing to navigate the highest interest rate environment in more than two decades.
Housing market activity in Kelowna typically starts to slow in June, with sales counts in the Central Okanagan usually reaching their apex in May before receding in the summer months. This year was no exception, with regional home-buying activity declining from May into June, which has, in turn, given inventory a chance to expand. And as a result, this changing supply-demand dynamic has nudged market conditions away from sellers and toward more balanced conditions. To put some context around the aforementioned slowing sales counts, there were 520 MLS transactions in the Okanagan in June, which was down 9% from May, but represented the second highest monthly total since May 2022. It was 33% more than last June 2022—which ended up being a sluggish period of activity during the early days of the Bank of Canada’s rate-hiking program—but still depressed when looking at the longer term, as it was 11% below the past 10-year June average.
With fewer sales in the month of June, inventory was able to grow—by a lot, in fact. The total number of homes available for sale at the end of the month reached 2,590, which was an 11% increase over May. And while this may have been 10% less than the past-decade June average, it was still 13% more than last June, and the highest total of any month going back to September 2020. With sales counts wilting as listings bloomed, there was almost 5 months of inventory (or MOI) in June (with an MOI of less than 5 reflecting a sellers’ market; 5-8 MOI reflecting balanced conditions; and an MOI over 8 reflecting a buyers’ market). We emphasize the word “almost” because you need to go to 2 decimal places to see that the region’s MOI is actually below 5 (it sits at 4.98). Needless to say, if either sales counts decline or inventory grows even marginally in July, the market will tip fully into balanced territory without you needing extra
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