April was not a good month for the Central Okanagan real estate market, as the region braced itself at home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sales, price and inventory were all down from April 2019, but the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board predicted that it would start to change for the better in the coming weeks and months.

We started to see that in May, as the numbers started to rebound across the board.

Between April and May, sales increased from 179 to 249 and the overall inventory started to rise again, going from 1,875 to 2,051.

“While we are still in the midst of a global pandemic, it is encouraging to see that residential sales are moving at an upward trajectory,” said Kim Heizmann, OMREB president.

“We are starting to see a return to real estate activity, which looks promising for the future, however, we remain cautious about predicting future outcomes as many economic factors will have impacts.”

Photo Credit: OMREB

May was certainly an improvement over April, but compared to May 2019, the number of sales were down close to 50%.

However, that didn’t seem to reflect in price, as single family homes are up around 5% over the last year and townhouses are nearly 2% more expensive.

Only condos and apartments have seen a slight fall in that sense, with a 2.8% drop over the past year.