The average Kamloops home price again hit a new record in March, as demand continues to put pressure on the local housing market.
Last month, the average property in the Tournament Capital sold for $568,557, which is a rise of 23.5 per cent from March of 2020.
Broken down, the average single-family home in Kamloops sold for more than $686,000 last month and the average multi-family home went for more than $412,500. Both of those numbers are monthly records.
Compared to March of 2020, the average single-family home price in Kamloops rose by 39.5 per cent, and the average multi-family home price went up 16.1 per cent.
We’re indeed setting sales records in the region and I don’t see any downtrend in the months to come,” Chelsea Mann says, the president of the Kamloops and District Real Estate Association.
“With that said, we must also not ignore the fact that this sharp rise in sales figures, is relative to a sluggish period in the 2020 market,” she adds, pointing out the first two months of the pandemic saw real estate activity drop off in Kamloops.
Mann also says most homebuyers in Kamloops are local, although there is starting to be a shift in that trend to more out-of-town buyers. Last week, at Kamloops city council, staff said buyers from the Lower Mainland are pushing up demand in the local housing market.
“The current real estate market situation in Kamloops can be compared to the one we saw in 2016, where a sudden rise in demand led to a sharp rise in average prices. This year, there is no end for this demand in sight, as increased work from home opportunities is getting more people interested in moving to smaller markets like ours,” Mann says.
Record-low interest rates also are playing a part in sales activity, with cheaper borrowing rates giving buyers more leeway in what they can afford for housing costs.
More rural communities near Kamloops are also seeing the same frenzy of homebuyers, although on much smaller scales which can impact month-to-month average sales. In March, the average home price was $368,000 in Barriere, $401,000 in Merritt, $439,000 in Logan Lake and $708,000 in Chase.
