A message from our managing broker...

A New Year is upon us and while we are extremely positive about real estate and general economic prospects for 2016 in BC, world events do make one sit up and take notice. More on that later.

SNOW! No kidding! El Nino is delivering what was promised in our part of the world. Moderate winter temperatures but plenty of snow. How many times have you shoveled your driveway so far? Some years the arrival of snow can put the brakes on real estate sales but not so this year. It has been busy and the stats speak for themselves.

December 2015 sales of all properties were up 10% over December 2014 which is even ahead of the full year sales trend of an 8% increase over 2014. Total sales for our area in 2015 reached 5,787 units compared to 5,369 in 2014. Not surprisingly, at year end, residential prices were up an average of 7% to $511,073 and the median prices up 6% to $479,000 compared to 2014.

An interesting statistic is the trend in listings as the year ended. While active listings at year end were down from 1,542 units in 2014 to 1,337 units in 2015 in Kelowna and from 808 units in 2014 to 668 units in 2015 in West Kelowna , new listings increased in December by 9% over December of 2014. Could this mean we will see more new listings coming onto the market in the months ahead? Stay tuned!

The trend in pricing and overall reduction of available listings is reinforced when one considers the days to sell a listing (on avg) dropped from 86 days to 71 days for December 2015 compared to 2014 and from 74 days to 65 days for the whole year of 2015 compared to 2014. This tells us demand exceeded supply. More properties sold than we had new listings come onto the market which is what drove the rising prices.

From the point of view of RE/MAX Kelowna and RE/MAX Kelowna Westside, we continue to lead this market. At year end our market share was 30.3% based on units sold making us the #1 real estate company in this market again! Full time, professional REALTORS® who work and live by the phrase “what matters to you, matters to us” makes the difference.

To wrap up this first newsletter of the year, I would like to focus on the word, “optimism”! In spite of the fluctuations on world markets, keep in mind, we have been here before. The US and Canadian economies are stable and BC, in particular, is predicted to have the strongest economy in Canada through 2016. In Kelowna we live in the most desirable place in the country and many other people think the same and continue to migrate here. We expect 2016 to be another good year in real estate in Kelowna with continued growth in volume and price.

- Peter Kirk, Owner/Managing Broker