Kelowna’s real estate market expected to cool in 2017

The Okanagan real estate market was hot in 2016 with prices reaching heights we’ve never seen before. Now market analysts are forecasting how the market will look in the year ahead and it looks like things are about to change. “We’re still going to see a strong market,” Elton Ash, Regional Executive Vice President of RE/MAX Western Canada said. “We’re predicting a 4 per cent price increase on average in Kelowna and overall sales will remain relatively strong as well.” The reasons for the softening of the market, according to Ash, are two-fold. The 15 percent foreign buyers tax established for Vancouver in August means fewer people are selling down there, and moving up here -and higher qualification criteria for CMHC insured mortgages are making it tougher for new buyers. “We won’t get that same demand that we’ve seen in the last year,” Ash said.