A new monthly record has been set for the average price of a single-family home in Kamloops.

Kamloops and District Real Estate Association president Wendy Runge says more home sales at higher price points led to a new record in February, at $530,300.

“The spring market seems to have hit us. The median price was down just a little bit, $495,000. And last month it was $513,000 for the median. But the big story really is the single-family average home price… So that’s quite a big increase from last February, about 13 per cent.”

The previous monthly price record for the average single-family home in Kamloops was just over $521,000, which had been set in November.

Last month, 45 homes sold between $400,000 and $500,000, and 20 homes sold for between $600,000 and $700,000. Runge says that’s a big increase from January, which she points out contributes to the record single-family sales price.

Runge says she expects the average sales price to continue to rise through the spring.

“The thing that I’m really hoping to see, and was really pleased to see (last month), was at least a slight increase in our inventory. Quite a big jump from January to February. Which we expect, just because of the time of year… But even if I look over from last February, we even saw a bit of an increase.”

She says the number of homes for sale was two per cent higher last month than February 2019.

The most popular place to buy last month was downtown, where 22 properties sold, followed by Pineview Valley at 18 and the North Shore at 17.