Author: Kirsten Mason

Vancouver, BC – June 14, 2023. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 9,191 residential unit sales were recorded in Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) systems in May 2023, an increase of 9.9 per cent from May 2022. The average MLS® residential price in BC was $1.02 million up 3 per cent compared to May 2022. The total sales dollar volume was $9.4 billion, representing a 13.2 per cent increase from the same time last year.

“Home sales in May were surprisingly strong,” said BCREA Chief Economist Brendon Ogmundson. “Normally we’d expect to see a more persistent, negative impact from the last year of rising interest rates on sales. Instead sales staged an early recovery in the spring returning to a normal pace of sales well ahead of schedule.”

The average home price in BC has now recovered much of the decline over the past year and is now back over $1 million for the first time since April 2022.

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was down 33.9 per cent to $30.8 billion, compared with the same period in 2022. Residential unit sales were down 28.1 per cent to 31,631 units, while the average MLS® residential price was down 8.2 per cent to $973,085.

Click here to visit to BCREA’s website. To view other statistics for the Kamloops and BC real estate market click here.

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“Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.” BCREA makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of this information.

To view the latest Market Intelligence report PDF, click here.

Summary of Findings

• New listings in BC have fallen to 25 per cent below pre-pandemic norms.

• Most of the explanation for low listings is due to overall slow market activity, but a multi-decade high interest rate differential between old and new mortgages is playing a role.

• The situation should resolve with time, but the current period further highlights the structural problem of chronically undersupplied housing markets, which results in volatility and susceptibility to demand shocks.

The post-pandemic housing market has been notable for its stubborn refusal to track expectations. One of the most interesting and unexpected recent housing market trends has been the lack of new listings, which have been trending well below average in all areas of the province since the start of the year. At first blush, the lack of new listings is indeed counterintuitive. With borrowing costs at decade highs and high inflation squeezing household budgets, it seems reasonable to assume that new listings would hold steady, or even rise, as some overburdened households were forced to sell their homes. Instead, new listings have declined substantially in housing markets across Canada.

In this Market Intelligence, we show that the pattern of new listings we see is, in fact, a usual outcome of current market dynamics and underlying economic fundamentals. Contrary to expectations, we show that a sharp rise in interest rates has historically been a deterrent to homeowners’ listing their homes.

Click here to visit to BCREA’s website. To view other statistics for the Kamloops and BC real estate market click here.

If you want to be kept informed on Kamloops Real Estate, News and more visit our Facebook Page.

To search for Kamloops real estate and homes for sale click here.

“Copyright British Columbia Real Estate Association. Reprinted with permission.” BCREA makes no guarantees as to the accuracy or completeness of this information.