Although many real estate markets across Canada have been very sluggish in terms of sales, the month of December for sales in the Central Okanagan were quite encouraging.  Kelowna and its many neighbourhoods are still considered to be among the most desirable to live in anywhere in this great country of ours.  For complete December 2008 Stats for the Central Okanagan please visit: OMREB Stats

Here's the break down on the December 2008 sales stats:

Lots and Acreages - 1 sale

Manufactured Homes - 8 sales

Single Family Residential - 74 sales

Strata (Condos & Townhomes) - 37 sales

Total December Sales: 120

Looking at just the Single Family Residential sales numbers alone they were quite good, considering that works out to an average of over two sales a day for the entire month!  Couple that with the fact that four of those sales were over the million dollar mark (one nearly topped two million) and buyers have started to take advantage of lower priced homes.  Of course, I am not saying that the volume and pricing of properties are equal to last year because they simply are not!  As a matter of fact listing inventory went up by nearly 20% and sales went down 57% over this time last year.  It is interesting to note that homes are selling 10% quicker today then they were last year!

However, I for one can see that investors, first time buyers and people moving up the property ladder are starting to come out of the woodwork.  With home values having adjusted to more of a balanced market and interest rates continuing to stay low, it really is a great time to buy in this current real estate market.  I look forward to a great 2009 in real estate right here in Canada's four season playground...Kelowna!

Sincerely,

Jason Neumann