According to the Interior Real Estate Association, the previous biggest year for the region stretching from Revelstoke to Peachland was 2016, which saw $4.7 billion in sales.
However, 2020 had reached that number by October and went on to surpass the annual record by $1.2 billion.
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The final tally for 2020 was $5.9 billion in sales, Heizmann said.
“I’m seeing first-time buyers who are local. I’m seeing people who were renting in the Lower Mainland finally able to purchase a home and able to do it here in the Okanagan,” Deak said.
“I’m seeing see Calgary retirees purchase their dream home.”
In the South Okanagan, the average sales price for single family homes surged 37 per cent, according to the real estate board’s statistics.
“Whenever we see any kind of double digit price increases, month over or year over year in any kind of stats, those are big numbers,” Heizmann said.
However, Deak noted that despite the big demand, there is still little supply.
“Inventory is frightful,” he said. “Typically, in the spring is when you see an increase in inventory, but you’ll also see an increase in buyers, so it’s a double-edged sword.”
2:19 Real estate experts in the Okanagan believe COVID-19 is pushing home sales up as people re-examine the kinds of homes they want to live in
Real estate experts in the Okanagan believe COVID-19 is pushing home sales up as people re-examine the kinds of homes they want to live in – Nov 4, 2020
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
MONTREAL – The Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers says Montreal-area home sales rose 9.3 per cent in August compared with the same month last year, with levels slightly higher than the historical average for this time of year.
The association says home sales in the region totalled 2,991 for the month, up from 2,737 in August 2023.
The median price for all housing types was up year-over-year, led by a six per cent increase for the price of a plex at $763,000 last month.
The median price for a single-family home rose 5.2 per cent to $590,000 and the median price for a condominium rose 4.4 per cent to $407,100.
QPAREB market analysis director Charles Brant says the strength of the Montreal resale market contrasts with declines in many other Canadian cities struggling with higher levels of household debt, lower savings and diminishing purchasing power.
Active listings for August jumped 18 per cent compared with a year earlier to 17,200, while new listings rose 1.7 per cent to 4,840.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
