December 2016

Good news for first-time homebuyers in Kelowna and area. Thanks to the B.C. government, you can apply for a matching down payment when you purchase a new home. It's not a hand-out. It's a hand-up. A loan that's interest-free first five years of home ownership and one that you don't have to make payments on for the first five years as well.

The B.C. Home Mortgage and Equity Program was announced Dec 15 by Premier Christy Clark. Qualified first-time buyers will be eligible to receive up to $37,500 on a matching grant for a down payment, a move Clark says which will help B.C. residents in the middle-class get into a home sooner.

During her statement to the press, the Premier said that first-time buyers saving for a home are finding that as they

Winter has a way of cooling things off – in more ways than one.  The cooler temps of November brought slower sales to the Okanagan Region as the number of home sales continued to fall in the Kelowna area.

In November, there were 571 sales – a drop of 26.7% from the number of homes sold in October of this year.  Slower doesn’t mean worse, however, as November 2016 sales were still 4.19% higher than the previous November.

The Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board (OMREB) says sales figures have been dropping since the end of Kelowna’s super-hot summer market but are still ahead year-to-year of 2015.

Kelowna home prices reached heights never before seen in the market.

Has the bubble burst?

In the monthly report to the community, the Board