Another record was set last month for Kamloops real estate prices.

The average sales price of a home in the Tournament Capital was $427,831 in May, which is the highest monthly average ever and 9.5 per cent higher than May of last year when it was $390,697.

“The thing that is keeping that price increasing is just a continued lack of inventory. Even though we are seeing a few more houses on the market in May than we did in April, it’s still not enough to meet that demand,” Kamloops and District Real Estate Association president Wendy Runge tells NL News.

Runge says the most competitive market for buyers last month was for homes priced between $400,000 and $500,000, and says the market for $200,000 to $300,000 was not far behind.

She says the housing market in Tournament Capital is one of the few areas of B.C. where both sales and price growth are remaining positive.

“In comparison to a lot of other places in the province, we’re still quite affordable. So I think we’re a good alternative to young families wanting to get into their first home. I personally have seen families coming here from the Lower Mainland who just weren’t able to buy down there, they just couldn’t afford it. So I think we’re still an affordable choice compared to the rest of the province.”

Runge says the median price of home sales in Kamloops last month – the middle point for all the sales that happened – was $497,000, which was slightly below the median price record set in March of $502,500.

She points out the rate of sales is still not far off from record years in 2016 and 2017, with 327 homes in Kamloops switching hands last month and 1,150 so far this year.