The phrase of the month for August of 2021 for the Okanagan Shuswap Real Estate market, is “Leveling off.” I hate to be a broken record, but this is what we expected. The insane market of the last two quarters of 2020 and the first two quarters of 2021 could not sustain itself and had to be correct either by a crash or a leveling off, which is what it has done.

For the moment, it has stopped its minor correction and leveled off at a robust market. Why did it not crash? That can be answered in 1 word; “Inventory.” There isn’t any. Low inventory will keep multiple offers coming and keep the prices rising. For the second month in a row, the average price for the Central Okanagan is above $1,000,000. The demand from outside of the Okanagan Shuswap continues to be strong, which keeps the inventory low. Because the rental market is just as tight as the sales market, buyers have no alternative but to continue to push to buy in this market.

The market might be leveling off, but inventory is still well below average

The average inventory in all three zones for August of 2021 is 267.  The average inventory of all three zones in August of 2020 was 536.  That is slightly less than half, and the inventory of 2020 was already low.

That says all about what is going on. If anyone ever asks you what will happen to the Real Estate Market in the Okanagan Shuswap, you can unequivocally state that it will stay strong for the next year at  least.

That inventory has to go up dramatically before the market direction changes. That can’t happen overnight. This winter, we will have our seasonal slowdown that always happens at that time of year. But when we compare month-to-month figures, the picture will be obvious.