28 January 2023

Spring Update 2022

I hope you & yours are well and prospering thus far in this new Year 2022.

It has been quite the eventful 3.5 months already; I will keep to real estate but please allow me to acknowledge the terrible War in Ukraine and the many prayers for it to end with the Ukraine intact & still with their independence. If I can say, a top priority for any country on our planet!

The market is still very active and it’s no surprise, there is still a housing shortage!  Which is being addressed with new developments through out the Shuswap!

In many areas of Salmon Arm rezoning hearing signs are popping up, or heavy equipment is clearing land, and neighborhoods are being created and new homes are in construction to offer homes for buyers to purchase! Encouragingly, there are also new condo rentals being built as well, as many tenants have been displaced when units or homes, they were renting have been sold.  With construction though, the downside is, it takes time, not offering an immediate solution to the housing shortage.  But more homes are coming for sale every week increasing the inventory available for buyers in this still a sellers market!

Although we have seen an increase in interest rates at the Bank of Canada in the last few months varying for example 2.79-3.99%* these rates are still historically low! As well, variable interest rates are still quite attractive, for example a lot of lenders are lending at 1% under prime making borrowing still very affordable.

In real estate governance, earlier this year the Association of Interior Realtors, Kamloops and District Real Estate Association and Kootenay Association of Realtors have become the Association of Interior Realtors, which is now the 9th largest REALTOR® Association in Canada, and 3rd largest in British Columbia.

This gives us as real estate agents a wonderful opportunity to serve our existing clients and new clients in a much greater geographic scope with abilities to access local area information and network with other Real Estate agents!

Even our own brokerage, Century 21 Executives Realty Ltd is growing, with the purchase of CENTURY 21 Desert Hills Realty in Kamloops,  and the establishment of CENTURY 21 Executives Imagine Realty Ltd serving the Kelowna area.

Its really quite an exciting time and I am excited to be able to offer more services and assistance to my clients! I am currently very steady with new listings and getting more ready to go up for sale in the next few weeks!

And the days are finally warming up…..its feeling like spring and thankfully we are not getting the snow like some areas of this country!

I will sign off for now until my next quarterly market update after the end of June, wishing you a wonderful rest of our spring season!

Please do not hesitate to reach out should you require any real estate services, or if you have any questions regarding the attached reports!

“OFFERING FREE MARKET EVALUTION FOR YOUR HOME”  Schedule an appointment anytime to have a free valuation/ consultation on your home! My personal cell # is 250 517 7742.

REPORTS INCLUDED:

You may note the South Peace River is represented in these reports as well,  even though geographically they are at the other end of the province they too are a part of our board.

Market Review for March of 2022 as provided by Bill Hubbard owner/broker of Century 21 Executives Ltd.

Top of the day to you folks

I may lose some followers in this month’s review. I am sure that of the 1000+ people this goes out to, many of them will be liberals and I may offend them. Mr. Trudeau has announced a “proposed” ban on foreign buyers purchasing houses across Canada for the next 2 years. There are some exemptions, but it is pretty much a blanket ban. Personally, I think it is a political gesture. It is political because it attacks a group that are not Canadians, so he is on safe ground. However, the percentage of foreign buyers in Canada has dropped from 9% in 2015 to 1 % in 2020. Also the foreign buyers have shown to be incredibly creative in their ability to get around the increased taxes put on them a couple years ago so this will likely be no different. The effectiveness of this ban is like trying to hang glide with a frisbee. It’s not going to slow you down much. 

However, in our fearless leader’s defence he is proposing billions into new construction. That is really the only way to slow the upward pressure on prices. The market is driven by supply and demand. To Fix this problem we have to increase the inventory or decrease the demand. As we see in the stats machine (Attached) this month the demand for housing in the Okanagan Shuswap is increasing, not decreasing. The absorption in the North and Central Okanagan is still above 60%. That means in March 60 % of all the houses on the market on the first of the month, sold in March. The averages in the last 2 years far exceed what we have ever seen before in the region.  We are waiting to see the effect of rising interest rates on the market but for now it has not shown up.  

Below is another little gem. It shows that basically the market is similar across the country. The only place in the entire country where prices dropped was the Yukon and it was only 1.5%. BC is in the top 3 for price increases. This market will soften, because each time the interest rates go up or the prices rise, we are pricing a few more buyers out of the market. The problem is that this is affecting the buyers that need the help the most (lower price range buyers) and doing little to deter the buyers that don’t need any help (higher price range buyers). However, more this month than most months….you always have to remember that this is just the world according to Bill.

 Author- As per Bill Hubbard, Owner/ Broker
Century 21 Executives Realty Ltd