Fence-sitting, standing on the sidelines, dithering, abstaining, wavering, uncertain, undecided, uncommitted or unsure.

Whatever and whichever way you want to frame it, potential homebuyers in Kelowna aren't pulling the trigger.

“It’s common for real estate activity to ease as the holiday season nears, but November tapped the brakes a little harder than usual,” said Kadin Rainville, president of the 2,600-member Association of Interior Realtors.

"That seems to be the theme across the province.”

Sure, people are focused on Christmas planning and shopping, getting away for the holidays, keeping the kids busy while they're out of school and generally having a good time rather than putting their house up for sale or buying a new place.

But, Kelowna' real estate lethargy goes beyond the seasonal.

It seems trapped in a cycle of soft sales with historically high prices.

And, there are myriad reasons.

The economy continues to be choppy.

Paycheques are stagnant or shrinking.

Grocery prices are off the chart.

Mortgage interest rates aren't coming down fast enough.

And government programs to make housing more affordable are stuck.

Home sales and prices are one of the greatest indicators of the general economy and peoples' mood.

Thus, the static sales and unaffordability mirror the overarching attitude Kelowna residents have that times are tough and the cost of living has gotten out of hand.

Photo credit: Realtor.caThis four-bedroom, two-bathroom, 2,158-square-foot house on Wasilow Road is listed for sale for $1 million, which is a little less than the $1,021,000 benchmark selling price of a typical single-family home in Kelowna in November.

"A lot of it is cost of construction and cost of replacement," explained Cassidy deVeer, executive officer at the Central Okanagan branch of the Canadian Home Builders' Association.

"Even if someone wants to sell their home they face a high cost of replacement, meaning they have to sell their existing home for a high price in order to move to a new place. And the cost of construction is high, so everything is expensive, even if everyone wants it to be more affordable."

It creates a scenario where no one can or will slash prices in order to sell or buy, so the market remains in a certain inertia of sluggish sales and unaffordability.

deVeer uses the example of there being a GST exemption for first-time homebuyers who purchase a new home priced under $1 million that can amount to a $50,000 savings.

However, the federal government is dragging its feet on actually enacting the exemption.

"If you could save $50,000 wouldn't you just wait until the government figures it out?" asked deVeer.

deVeer said there are other things governments could be doing to see more homes built, more sales and more affordability, such as expanding the GST exemption to all homebuyers, reducing taxes, lowering development cost charges and continuing and creating grants and incentives for builders to construct all kinds of housing, 

To put that into numbers, we look at the November statistics based on sales on the Multiple Listing Service distributed by the Association of Interior Realtors.

Last month, 133 single-family homes were sold in the Central Okanagan, down from 171 in October and down 2.3% from November 2024.

The benchmark selling price of a typical single-family home came in at $1,021,000 last month, down a bit from October's $1,042,900, but up slightly from September's $1,020,800.

When the market was on a post-COVID tear in 2021 and 2022 sales were more than double that and the benchmark selling price for a single-family home peaked at $1,131,000 in April 2022.

Last month, 37 townhouses changed hands in the Central Okanagan, down from 55 in October and 54 in September.

Despite the significantly slower sales, the benchmark selling for a typical townhouse in November was $752,800, up dramatically in just one month from the $697,100 it was in October.

At some points in the post-pandemic boom, like May 2021, monthly townhouse sales were triple what they were in November 2025.

The benchmark price for a townhouse was at a record-high of $829,000 in May of 2022.

When it comes to condominiums, 75 sold last month, down from 84 in October and 102 in September.

The benchmark price was $486,700 in November, $489,500 in October and $494,500 in September.

Again, in post-COVID brisk sales, more than twice as many condos were sold monthly.

The record-high condo benchmark hit $557,700 in April 2022.

_{Thumbnail photos from Realtor.ca}