Ephraim Vecina
Mortgage Broker News
The recent release of the B.C. government’s latest property assessments revealed that a city on the southern section of the province has become one of the country’s most desirable housing destinations over the last few years.
In a January 7 piece for CBC News, markets observer Chris Walker highlighted the gains that the Kelowna market has experienced in a relatively short span of time.
“I moved to the Okanagan six years ago to work for the local CBC bureau, and I bought a house in the downtown core. I opened my most recent B.C. Assessment notice to find its value had increased by 16 per cent. It’s the biggest jump in the past five years, which have seen a 30 per cent increase overall,” Walker recounted.
This has made the Okanagan one of the regions that can boast of the highest rates of growth.
“It’s actually growing twice as fast as the next fastest growing city in B.C., and it’s growing three times as fast as Victoria and Vancouver,” Francois Sergerie of Statistics Canada said last year.
And the main drivers of this growth? Hopeful would-be buyers escaping overheated Vancouver along with the recent demographic shift, in which millennials and young professionals have risen to market prominence.
“People coming from Vancouver are mostly under 30 and some of them may be cashing in on Vancouver’s incredible real estate boom,” Walker explained.
“For new arrivals who can’t live downtown, outlying communities that retain a rural feel are becoming more attractive,” he added. “Kelowna property values might still have room to grow, especially if people flush with cash continue to move from Vancouver.”
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