Residential real estate sales in September saw lower than anticipated activity despite a healthy stock of active inventory, reports the Association of Interior REALTORS (the Association).
A total of 1,025 residential unit sales were recorded across the Association region in September coming in below August’s 1,165 units and almost on par with September 2023’s units sold with a 0.3 per cent increase.
New residential listings saw a decrease of 6.7 per cent compared to September 2023 with 2,370 new listings recorded last month. The total number of active listings saw 27.1 per cent boost of total inventory compared to September 2023 with 9,972 recorded across the Association region.
“While active listings are trending upwards, September marked a seemingly sluggish month for sales activity despite anticipation of recent rate cuts potentially providing some relief to rate-sensitive buyers,” says the Association of Interior REALTORS® President Kaytee Sharun.
“Stimulus from recent policy changes, such as the potential for 30-year mortgage amortization and the increase in insured mortgage rate cap, could bolster real estate activity in the coming months.”
In the Kootenays
In the Kootenay and Boundary region, unit sales saw an increase of 1.3 per cent compared to sales activity in September 2023 with 242 sales recorded last month and almost on par with August’s 240 units sold.
There were 367 new listings recorded in the Kootenay and Boundary region in September marking a 4.3 per cent increase compared to September 2023 and a decrease from August’s 465 new listings.
The overall active listings in the Kootenay region saw a 21.4 per cent increase compared to September 2023 with 1,759 listings overall.
“While the Kootenay and Boundary region barely showed an increase from last year September’s units sold, sales activity is holding steady which indicates strong market confidence in the area, likely in part due to the region representing one of the more affordable housing markets in the province,” says Sharun.
The benchmark price, a better representation of value compared to the average or median price as it represents a dwelling of “typical attributes”, saw percentage increases in the Kootenay region in all housing categories compared to the same month last year, with the highest percentage increase of 4 per cent recorded in the condominium category, coming in at $327,300.
The benchmark price for townhomes saw a slight 0.1 per cent increase in year-over-year comparison coming in at $493,900 and the benchmark price for single-family homes was marginally up 0.2 per cent coming in at $606,100.
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