The Penticton and area market has been driven by the
Vancouver cash out buyer – making a break from the city,
It is my experience with these buyers is that they ALL had a collective epiphany
-these people – CAN and will NOW “work from home” and
THEY are moving to the Okanagan
– THEY want to call the Okanagan “home.”
They have also been very impressed with their equity increase and perhaps aren’t finding that the prices here are not genuinely landing them the dream home AND cash in the bank. Our prices are not exactly what they had expected….. but the Okanagan being home is now attainable for the worker from home in your household.
Yes, I have buyers from out east – but their travel time does not beat out the:
“YVR, hop in your car, get here before 5 pm. Multiple offer presentation TODAY Buyer.”
And – just last weekend, ONE HOME listed for two years at 2 million – reduced to 1.9 and then back to 2.2 sold for 2.5 unconditional!
The YVR buyers. The marketshare percentage has always been around 30%. The YVR buyer market share is a known fact- what is not new is the spread between offers that I am witnessing… Real estate agents – YES, YOU do NEED one – a LOCAL one AND please – get one with experience (it does not have to be me 🙂 I do like working with them on the other side too! Buyers use these realtors for PROTECTION, and this overbidding situation is getting a bit out of control; I am sure some buyers are stopped right in their “5th wheel will do tracks!” Sellers, I am not sure how much time you have on that clock as the market drivers are starting to disappear.
- Low-Interest Rates are gone. – the historically low cheap Money and inflationary impact combo –
- Covid is Gone. (opinion- I’m OVER it- media say what you will, but my unvaxed soccer team is BACK on that field)
- Smart Money is gone – the investors are not picking up more than one spec purchase. At these prices, THE.CASH.DOES.NOT.FLOW.
- The vacation rental buyer has disappeared for reasons of the same.
Recently reported from the Penticton Western News that 23 % of our market buyers are from the Vancouver area – I am always curious about the source of these statistics.
As a Realtor, the board sends out an email after each transaction asking the buyers’ agent to fill out where the buyers are from and prompting us to respond to the survey with iPad incentives, Contract and Purchase and Sales agreement, rarely, if ever do offers to contain the buyer address. Having sold 40 homes a year on average, I often miss these surveys and have yet to win an iPad! (If the board is asking us and the deal has long closed, this leads me to understand there is not an accurate collection of the buyers from data)
How accurate is that data that easily clickable news is “reporting?” — genuinely and certainly after the past two years- I am curious —-
Penticton real estate winter markets are generally slow, but I feel this summer may be the” new winter, “given it is starting to slow down. Vancouver agents tell me that 100k over 30 offer days are over 100k price reductions are becoming the new norm.
I keep waiting to feel the shift in pace; my colleagues say they are (perhaps due to the affordability(?)- and I am hoping to find a slight relief in its ensuing presence!
From the boots on the ground here, I can tell you that the ‘604’ buyers make up most of my phone calls and “buy-side” clients.
Penticton Royal LePage weekly office meetings – we review our sales data – and I have not seen much change in a buyer’s location.
Home can now be where the skilled, self-employed, or otherwise income approvingly employed (that is, if you don’t have Vancouver equity downpayment money, then let’s run with generic “employed” want the home to be. One no longer needs to be in an extensive shutdown, changing city to earn a living, people can do it in front of a computer which is 5 to 15 minutes from a beach, a mountain, the lifestyle they believe will bring a bit more joy than the city got…They can have a home office and a fantastic excuse to buy that home where they plan to retire. I am calling it the “PRETIREMENT” Buyer.
- equity rises allow it
- employer and now trending is an ability to earn from home
As many vocations have sorted out making their career comfortably practised from the comfort of their own home……..Those years when the government was printing money and closed businesses stopped the world as we once knew it.
Well, that Money printed is taking full effect on the prices of homes but has NOT curbed the market demand …YET. -?
(and this market increase is not JUST the Okanagan, we are exceptional, but not that special!)
Inventory is limited – it does sound cliche, but with affordability almost out the window – it is competitive for decent, affordable homes in more than just the financial arena; it is competitive to have more than one decent option pre-price range and neighbourhood.
The minute a home (yes singular) hits the MLS system or what most consider “the market,” that listing agent is best armed with an “offer date.”
Three weeks ago – I listed three affordable homes in one week, and I could NOT keep the charge on my phone; I had stalkers, I had to hide in my office from an out of town agent sheltering the seller whom the agent later walked in on twice without appointment by same agent from a differing area and obvious language barrier….now I can get dramatic, this was a one-off, but amongst two other active listings, I will NEVER put my little cell phone or self through that again! AND maybe the market is taking care of that for me –
The highest bidder sets the bar for the next piece of comparable inventory to “hit,” We are all awaiting the sales data as it escalates.
Or, in resistant disbelief, we are not telling the world – and it never actually hits the system because yours genuinely got her buyer through before the listing was LIVE on MLS.
(Exclusive Buyer Agency Benefit… it’s my contractual obligation ….what can I say!)
Panic buyers launching at subpar homes with AGGRESSIVE offers (agents?) – there is nothing else to buy…
Inventory is limited, and it IS all WE want to see! ALL of us—realtors too! (Hence the disclosure forms…)
So, IF this is what you truly want, it’s time to get aligned, get it right, and get someone with experience – in the business, the local area, and EXPERIENCE with multiple offers!
(Winning multiple offers!)
Find the proper town and location, get into that market, and prepare for sweat equity. – See next blog for some ideas on this!