Nelson, BC, 08-20-2021: Most of BC’s regions followed the same performance pattern after the real estate market gathered pace back in June 2020. During the pandemic, real estate sales records in the Kootenay region were broken and the market underwent one full cycle; with a hot market sandwiched between two relatively normal periods.
As demand for properties in the Kootenay region continued to be high, active inventory fell to record levels while average prices for homes and unit sales numbers were breaking records month-on-month. Industry pundits talked about the market thriving due to relaxed mortgage rates and the pent-up demand for homes during the pandemic. In this phase, we also saw more people from different regions interested in Kootenay properties.
Kootenay Association of REALTORS® (KAR) President, Chuck Bennett, says: “There’s no denying the fact that among other regions in the province, the Kootenay region provides great value for your home investment. I have noticed that with remote working opportunities arising after lockdown, more people were interested in locations that would’ve previously been out of their consideration. As per a recent report on buyer locations, it was observed that during the pandemic, our region saw growth among buyers coming from outside the region.”
Members of KAR have access to a tool called Buyer Path, which lets them track buyer location trends from January 2019 onwards.
“The Buyer Path report for the last 10 months has made some interesting revelations about our region. Since October 2020 until May 2021, we recorded the percentage share of out-of-district buyers of Kootenay properties to be in the range of 35-45%. Whereas a year before, the same was in the range of 25-35%. This means that compared to a year before, we saw an increase of about 10% in the number of buyers that came from out-of-district areas each month during the pandemic. Considering we sell 300 listings on an average each month, a shift of 10% means that there were about 30 more buyers from other regions who bought Kootenay properties each month, since the hot market started last year”, added Chuck.
Buyer Path revealed that the increased share of out-of-district buyers in the Kootenay region was dominated by buyers from Alberta, the Okanagan, Vancouver, and Fraser Valley. While these areas were top areas even before the pandemic, the rise in the attractiveness quotient of Kootenay properties among prospective buyers out-of-region is evident from the rise in percentage share of these buyers.
Since Oct 2020, about 250 buyers who bought Kootenay properties were from the Lower Mainland. As compared to the same months a year before, there were only 102 buyers who came from the Lower Mainland. Similarly for the same period, the number of buyers from Alberta increased to 440 from 266 in the previous year.
“KAR will continue to monitor where the buyers are coming from, and it will be interesting to see if the current trend continues in the coming months. For now, the majority of buyers are still from within the Kootenay region”, said Chuck.
Kootenay Association of REALTORS®
102-247 Baker Street
Nelson, BC V1L 4H4
communications@kar.realtor
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