Home sales increased, and decreased, in the month of March.
There were 412 total residential sales in the Central Okanagan last month, according to the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board(OMREB). That's a jump of about 20 percent from February, when there were 344 sales, but it's a drop of almost 27 percent compared to March of last year.
“While the market was busier than February, as is the norm this time of year, sales were substantially down from last March. At this point, it’s difficult to know whether or not this is significant or if it is simply an anomaly.” says OMREB President Tanis Read.
Read notes a number of external factors that could impact the market including the BC’s government’s proposed speculation tax, “If implemented, the BC government’s housing-related taxes, coupled with recent federal mortgage tightening rules and interest rate hikes, could be the tipping point that takes the market from a gradual downturn to a potentially steep decline,” Read cautions.
Home prices are up in the Central Okanagan, about $100,000 since last March, to an average of $545,000.