By Adam Donnelly

Kamloops construction sector and real estate market both strong in 2018

Jun 4, 2018 | 4:41 PM

KAMLOOPS — For anyone who keeps an eye on the yearly assessments of their homes, real estate values in the city have been on the rise over the past few years; with less supply and more demand in Kamloops, that trend should continue.

Much like the weather, the real estate market in May throughout the city has been heating up.

“We had a slow-down in March of this year, but it certainly has picked up in April and May,’ Kamloops and District Real Estate Association president Doren Quinton says. “We’re still about 6% below where we were in 2017, but 2017 was just off of our record pace.”

Quinton says it’s the high-end homes throughout the city that have helped drive the market; specifically, homes in the $600,000-plus range.

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“In May, we had 40 sales about $600,000. We also had 40 sales in the $360,000-400,000 range, so the top end and the bottom end of the market have been very, very busy,” Quinton explains.

Quinton says as a result of the increased demand for high-end homes in Kamloops, the association plans to start tracking where the home buyers are coming from, in an effort to see if the hot real estate market in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland is one of the reasons for increased demand here in the city.

“We will be the first in Canada that we know of that is [tracking home buyers’ origins,” Quinton says. “Personal, I am seeing quite a few new clients come up from the Lower Mainland, from the Fraser Valley, and certainly some coming over from Alberta as well, as the BC economy is very strong right now.”

Along with a strong real estate market, the city is also seeing an increase in the value of building permits issued throughout the community. The combination of the two metrics means the city is continuing to grow.

Over at the City’s Planning and Development Department, Jason Dixon has been busy in 2018. The total permits issued so far this year total$94.9 million dollars, compared just over $53 million over the same period last year.

“We’ve seen a really, really big increase in commercial, industrial, and institutional activity,” Dixon says. “In particular, apartment-type units. We’re seeing a lot more purpose-built rental apartments.”

While high-end single-family dwellings are in high demand right now, the increase in permits for rental properties will help increase the stock of affordable housing throughout the city.

“There’s an awareness of the need for affordable housing,” Dixon says. “Whether it’s young people or people on fixed incomes, whatever the case is, they need to have various housing types that allow everybody to get into something.”