There is concern that increasing home prices could price first time home buyers out of the Kamloops housing market.

That’s according to Kamloops and District Real Estate Association president Wendy Runge, speaking after the average house price crossed the $500,000-dollar mark in November, for the first time ever.

She says Kamloops has always been affordable, but that trend is changing a little bit these days.

“I think to combat that, we’ve got to look at inventory. How can we create some more housing options for people who are in the market for the first time. There’s not a lot of inventory in those lower price points,” Runge says.

“It’s good news obviously if people have a house to sell, but it’s challenging for those first time home buyers. So there’s things we need to look at too around mortgage rules. It’s very complex, I mean, there’s a lot of things that go into being able to buy your first house.”

Runge expects to see more high-density housing built in Kamloops in the near future, to meet the needs of both buyers and renters.