Real estate listings are up, and sales are down

It seems some Okanagan real estate markets could be cooling off.

Peter Lockhart with the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board says units on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in the Central Zone last month jumped 43% over June 2007.

That covers the area from Peachland to Lake Country.

Lockhart says the buyers are showing some resistance, while sellers are on the bandwagon to sell in the high-priced market.

"So what happens is you get more people wanting to put their product on the market, at the same time that buyers are taking a 'let's wait and see' attitude."

He tells us, "It's like driving at 100 miles/hour and then slowing down to 60.  It seems like we're going slow but in actual fact, it still a pretty good market."

Stats also show sales dollars dropped 42% and there were 46% fewer units sold.

Lockhart believes this drop will balance out.  He says, "You can't go by short-term figures.  We have to look at year-over-year, over a period of years.  If we compare this year's sales to 2001 or 2002, we're doing quite well."

Denise Wong - Astral Media Radio News (Kelowna)