A leading realtor in Kamloops is suggesting the interest rate increase by the Bank of Canada is likely to send a shudder through the local housing market — but not enough to create any permanent changes.

With the Bank of Canada’s quarter-point hike this week, Quinn Pache with Pache-Latta Realty says there will be some temporary “soul searching” by potential buyers.

“Although we may have a two-week period where people may hit the pause button and just wait to see what’s going to happen, I think after that two weeks of a little bit of a wall, we are going to kick right back up to having a really strong market.”

It comes as Pache says the Kamloops market has one fundamental issue, a lack of supply.

Pache says even if the mortgages for those on a variable — or fixed — rate become too overwhelmed, he suspects they’ll remain in the market.

“We are going to see more places come on the market and I don’t think it is going to be in the form so much as foreclosures because there is going to be equity there,” he said. “People are still going to be able to make good moves by selling their house, taking their equity out, being able to buy something a little more cost-effective.”

Due to the low housing supply on the market, Pache says bidding wars are once-again underway in Kamloops.

“There is a huge demand right now for people looking at houses in the $500,000 to even $700,000 range and it does not matter where it is in the city.”

Pache says even with Kamloops earmarked for faster builds being part of the first phase of the province’s “homes for people” plan, he suggests the market will remain tight, noting that any new housing created under that program won’t be going up overnight.