The Oswells

$3.9M will buy costliest house

by Michele Young

The most expensive house for sale in Kamloops right now is a Juniper Ridge home priced at $3.9 million.

It’s one of 18 houses on the market valued at more than $1 million, said Kamloops and District Real Estate Association president Tracy Moffatt.

That’s how hot the real estate market still is, she said Monday.

On the other end, the cheapest home up for sale will cost you $215,000 and give you a Parkcrest Avenue address.

“Median house price in November was $339,900,” she said. November’s house sales were up two per cent last month from the same time period the year before, indicating the upward trend is still holding, but not as steep as it has been.

City development and engineering services director David Trawin said on the construction side, the November numbers were down slightly this year from last because the cold weather set in sooner.

Builders are also slowing down their activity some, to finish up past projects or because they can’t find many available lots.

Still, as soon as lots or homes are available, they’re snatched up, Trawin said.

“As soon as we get a subdivision out there, the houses are being sucked up,” he said.

“We talked to our major developers and they want lots to get going.”

The City’s November building statistics show 17 single-family home permits were issued this year, compared with 32 in 2006. The year-to-date stats show 341 homes built thus far in 2007, while 413 went up in 2006.

Multi-family numbers fell to five last November from 27 the previous year. But the year-to-date numbers show 246 multi-family units built in 11 months of this year compared with 205 a year ago.

Trawin said there’s a lot of demand for multi-family housing, in part because it’s more affordable. But the demand for all types of homes hasn’t really eased up.

“Is the boom over? I would say no,” he said.

“We don’t have as much institutional stuff this year. The numbers might be a little off, but still above the 10-year average.”

Moffatt said the lack of lots would be the only real factor in the statistical slow down.

“Builders in town are scrambling for lots to build on,” she said. “Typically, this time of year, building starts do tend to slow down a bit.”

While Kamloops residents have seen house prices jump by leaps and bounds in the past decade, those coming from Alberta and Vancouver — where many are coming from these days — are thrilled to see the cost of houses here.

“The biggest shift I’ve seen in the past couple of years is there are a lot of people coming in from out of town,” Moffatt said.

“It’s the local people who have a difficult time with the house prices here.”

She has seen first-time home buyers opting for 40-year mortgages in order to get in on a single-family house instead of a townhouse or condo.

Regardless of what buyers are looking for, demand remains steady, Moffatt said.

“I don’t think it’s going to slow down for us any time soon. I think it will stabilize a little. Every month I’ve done the stats, we’re up.”

With more multi-family projects on the horizon and mortgage rates predicted to stay low, she expected the market will continue to rise, albeit at a slower rate than in the past couple of years.