Local
representatives of the real estate, banking and construction industries
say when it comes to property prices in the Central Okanagan, the
current level is likely as low as it will go.
“There were opportunities in January and February to get some good deals,” said Cliff Shillington, owner of Re/Max Kelowna.
“But sellers have recognized the change and adjusted their prices. You can’t steal a property from somebody any more.”
Shillington said unlike a
few months ago, sellers are now regularly getting between 90 per cent
and 94 per cent of their asking prices. As a result, he said prices are
similar to where they were at this time in 2007.
Shillington, along with
Central Okanagan Home Builders’ Association president Howard Rensler
and Bank of Montreal mortgage specialist Guy Cole, told reporters this
week the bottom appears to have been reached in the property market
here and sales and sale prices are picking up.
Rensler even went so far
as to boldly declare the recession, as far as residential construction
in the Central Okanagan is concerned, is over.
“That’s the good news. The bad news is that this is what recovery looks like,” he said.
Like Shillington and Cole,
Rensler said the recent downturn in the property market was caused as
much by consumer confidence as anything else. And Cole, whose bank
organized the media briefing, admitted the gathering was, in part, to
address that lack of confidence by consumers.
He said the numbers bear
out the “good” news. As an example, he pointed to the fact his mortgage
specialists at the bank—throughout the entire Interior—are fielding
more calls from people looking for mortgages now than they were a year
ago
“It feels good to have the phones ringing off the hook,” he said.
But while the trio tried
its best to put a positive spin on a picture that was being painted as
pretty bleak up to a month ago, it was not all good news, especially
for people looking to get into the property market for the first time
here.
While mortgage rates are
still low and are expected to stay that way for the foreseeable future
and the price of housing has come down somewhat, it is still high,
making it tough for first time buyers to realize the dream of owning a
single-family home.
Shillington said today, the entry point for many is a condominium.
Rensler sees it a little differently.
He said there will always
be pockets of affordable housing, but they may be farther out from
Kelowna proper, meaning longer commutes.
He added while that is
something that is not unusual in larger centres elsewhere, it will
require a change of thinking for many people here.
Bank of Montreal senior
economist Sal Guatari, who joined the panel by phone from Toronto, said
while house prices have come down across B.C., they are still
relatively high in the Kelowna area. He felt prices may have stabilized
here and will not likely see the spectacular rises that were
experienced over the last four years for some time to come.
As for the amount of
housing available here, the local trio feel the market is balancing out
from where it was before the downturn in the economy last fall.
Rensler said he believes
that the shift in the housing market has also forced construction
speculators—people who build individual houses with the express
intention of immediately selling them at high prices to make a quick
profit—to quit the local market.
“Speculating is for those with deep pockets and white livers,” he said.