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Okanagan-Shuswap Housing Market Continues Normalization Trend

The Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) reported November 2011 sales activity of all MLS® property types were up 9% over this time last year as the housing market continues to normalize, prices stabilize and inventory declines moving into winter and year end. Read More…

Okanagan-Shuswap Housing Market Continues to Stabilize

Kelowna,
BC – The Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) reported October
2011 sales activity of all MLS® property types remained similar to this
 time  last year and were down slightly from the previous month
(September 2011) as the housing market continues to stabilize.

The national apartment market is getting more competitive as the vacancy rate lowers and rented apartments are getting harder to find. The falling vacancy rate is attributed in part to immigration and the stable rate of rental apartment completions while demand rises. The lowest vacancy rates were in Winnipeg and Regina at 0.7%, Quebec City at 1%, Toronto at 1.6%, and Kingston at 1.7%

If you find yourself in a bind looking for an apartment, your best bets are in Windsor, Kelowna/ Abbotsford, and Charlottetown who currently have the highest vacancy rates at 9.4%, 6.6%, and 4.9% respectively.

Concurrently, the average monthly rent crept up $14 in the past year. The highest rent rates belonged in Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton, and Victoria at $1181, $1124, $1056, $1040, $1029, and $1024 respectively. Vancouver rates pushed as high as $10,000 a month.

Those of you in those urban hubs listed with rents that are bleeding you dry might want to consider moving to Saguenay, Trois-Rivieres, and Sherbrooke (all in Quebec) with average rents ranging from $542 to $577.

The national average, factoring in the country’s 35 major centers and factoring out the newly built, higher priced buildings, rose 2.2% in the past year.

Read the full article here.