Sophie Gray
Local Journalism Initiative
Real estate sales are looking up in the South Okanagan this month, according to a report by the South Okanagan Real Estate Board.
The report says 121 single-family homes were sold in the South Okanagan in June, up 38 percent from the same period last year, while home listings were down.
Sale prices also increased by 20 percent, with the average cost of a single-family home rising to $617,986.
“Housing market activity certainly increased in June, in stark contrast to what we saw the month before,” said South Okanagan Real Estate Board president Lyndi Cruickshank.
Townhouse sales are also up significantly in the region, with a 56 percent increase in sales in June, while condo sales are down.
Osoyoos saw the largest increase in sales last month, with 20 single-family home sales resulting in a 150 percent increase over June 2019.
In a statement sent to the Times-Chronicle along with the report, Cruickshank warned that COVID-19 concerns are still out there, so business is not quite back to normal in the real estate world just yet, but there is hope.
“The increase in activity does draw cautious optimism for the housing market to recover sooner than may have been expected,” she said.
