Okanagan Living/Lifestyle, what does that mean?

[craigor46]

My mom moved here in 1980 it was a great town to live in. Then in 1990 my sister moved here as she was a single mom and moved in with our mom. She wanted to raise her son here as my sister felt it was a great place to raise a son.
Fast forward to 2022 its no longer a smaller city, And the housing prices are outrages that her son doesn't stand a chance of owning a house, condo , apt here. Its become a playground for the rich. And the middle class is so busy trying to earn enough money you don't stand a chance to enjoy what Kelowna has to offer just trying to survive.
High rises going up everywhere destroying the views that helped put Kelowna on the map. City has unchecked growth and they can't keep up with the infrastructure , especially the roads that are becoming increasingly crowded.
The last two years have been HORRIBLE with extreme heat, drought , and fires and don't forget months of choking smoke making it almost impossible to enjoy the outdoors.
We do have a good hospital, cancer clinic which attracts all the seniors from smaller centers to move here. Also we have a great University here. So good and bad for Kelowna and the Okanagan like anywhere !

[Boarder4]

Definitely enough mid to late 30’s women walking around with their “Okanagan Lifestyle “ sweat shirts and “Okanagan Lifestyle” Stickers on the back windows of their vehicles. Most of them probably recently moved from Alberta or Saskatchewan. They also like to text while driving (that’s a must for a lot of these Instagram/Tik Tok characters

[lesliepaul]

Can't wait to see mortgage rates go up and put a stop to the ing housing greed here and Vancouver. 6% sounds good to START with.........many here lived through the 1980's with 18% - 20% rates. Speculators and Chinese money laundering put us in this spot along with the er's buying for "Air BNB" rentals . A good "cleansing" now will give younger people and families a chance in the future.

[Symbonite]

it means that your either eating canned sardines or grilled Salmon

[Even Steven]

Either one is good, really.

[normaM]

all my time here never have seen anyone wearing an OL top.
Paying sky high rent prolly sums up the OL.

[W105]

it's kind of funny to now see a Realtor ( wonder how much $$ he made off Speculators) start saying it's now "Speculators" that killed kelowna's RE Market...5-6 yrs ago they said No way...when the Spec Tax came out they said No way, we don't have any Speculators, it's Locals buying ( even though they knew that 25% of our housing was owned by mostly Albertans who only lived here part time and left their units empty for 1/2 the yr during an almost zero vacancy rate here ...when the Foreigner's Tax came out they said No way , we have hardly any foreign buyers coming to Kelowna..even our Mayor said this wasn't happening here..

and now in a mere 3 yrs housing went from $450K to $1 million here...and our greedy Mayor and his Council are very much to share the blame in this since they have allowed the Speculators to come in droves ( all those Towers downtown are mostly for investors aka Air BnB) they also could have made buying homes for Air BnB WAY tougher, they also could have dinged every Developer more $$ so they could offer Home Ownership to Locals like the Mayor and Council in Langford did ( google it, it's a great idea)

and now our Government after finally for yrs when people were saying "you gotta stop the Foreign Investor, Money Laundering Speculators" from decimating our RE Market for locals who want to buy or rent did , even though they kept saying that was not happening for the next 2 yrs ( big whoop)

raise the Interest Rates, start a Recession and that will clean this mess up...and yup, there will be some very hurting people here and all over Canada but tough beans..Inflation is hitting us harder and the cost of shelter whether to buy or to rent is sucking us dry and just cannot go on...






Realtor blames speculators
https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/3 ... use-prices

[alanjh595]

Housing prices are up all across Canada.

New Housing Price Index
The New Housing Price Index (NHPI) is a housing price index published by Statistics Canada that measures the change over time in selling prices of new residential properties. It is published by Statistics Canada and used by governmental agencies, market analysts, and real estate businesses. The index is relative to a standard of 100 set in 2017.

Now that interest rates are going up, 1st time home buyers are going to have a much harder time passing the stress test, especially when the interest rates could go up a full 1% on the next increase.

In Kelowna, prices are rising due to the lack of supply.
Now with the price of lumber, wages, inflation, it is going to be even harder to to move up the property ladder to make room at the bottom. People will not be selling and builders won't be building any new homes if they are going to be harder to sell or they are going to lose their profit margins.
Prices for new homes will go up because the speculator is allowing for future cost increases and any delay in resale time.
Cost of building materials have already gone up over 35%, add in labour costs, fuel, and new house build has gone from $200 sq/ft. to over $300 sq/ft. over 1 year.
Lack of desirable lots has dropped, so the price of what becomes available goes up as well.

[normaM]

I don't recall houses being that cheap 3 yrs ago here
Of course people are moving here from the Mainland, not sure that is being a speculator

[alanjh595]

I don't recall houses being that cheap 3 yrs ago here
Of course people are moving here from the Mainland, not sure that is being a speculator

You think it is expensive here? It's cheaper than the lower mainland. (Excluding Surrey)

https://www.realtor.ca/map#ZoomLevel=11 ... rrency=CAD

[DoDo1975]

In Kelowna, prices are rising due to the lack of supply.

Really? Please show you evidence. Even the big banks are finally admitting the supply myth is incorrect.

This is a classic bubble, blown up by speculators, investors and a mentality that you can't lose.

https://www.ubcm.ca/about-ubcm/latest-n ... ion-growth

https://storeys.com/stop-blaming-supply ... ng-crisis/

If interest rates even get close to neutral, or God willing to what they should be to stave off the inflation created by all the money that's been printed over the last decade and a half, then the housing market is going suffer a long death.

Unfortunately, we can't get there without a major recession. Too many people have borrowed and spent money they never had and weren't even going to make in the future.

People can't afford today's prices with last months interest rates. Just wait until the overnight rate hits 3 percent. That alone will shave close to 250 grand off what people can afford, and if you think people aren't already stretched and can just absorb this you are delirious.

The big question is how much will psychology and the herd mentality affect things. Will people still lie, cheat and steal to pay 50% of their income for a house? If not the downside risks are much greater.

At a neutral interest rate, housing is still more expensive than the fundamentals justify with a 40% haircut.

[alanjh595]

^^^^^^1st link;

Councillor Laurey Anne Roodenburg, UBCM President
“Our report shows that local governments have been approving enough housing supply to keep pace with population growth in B.C. It is also clear that many other factors – including the ‘financialization’ of the housing market; shortages in skilled trades and materials; and multiple layers of provincial regulation - are leading to a dire shortage of attainable options for those in need of a home.

The whole article is about the government stepping in to speed up the process of the red tape to build a home.

A single family dwelling is not an issue, it's the skyrises that take years to build no matter how short the red tape is.

The article only accounts for what the government can do to shorten the approval process and nothing about the cost of materials and labour or the physical time it takes to build.

[W105]

In Kelowna, prices are rising due to the lack of supply.

Really? Please show you evidence. Even the big banks are finally admitting the supply myth is incorrect.

This is a classic bubble, blown up by speculators, investors and a mentality that you can't lose.

https://www.ubcm.ca/about-ubcm/latest-n ... ion-growth

https://storeys.com/stop-blaming-supply ... ng-crisis/

If interest rates even get close to neutral, or God willing to what they should be to stave off the inflation created by all the money that's been printed over the last decade and a half, then the housing market is going suffer a long death.

Unfortunately, we can't get there without a major recession. Too many people have borrowed and spent money they never had and weren't even going to make in the future.

People can't afford today's prices with last months interest rates. Just wait until the overnight rate hits 3 percent. That alone will shave close to 250 grand off what people can afford, and if you think people aren't already stretched and can just absorb this you are delirious.

The big question is how much will psychology and the herd mentality affect things. Will people still lie, cheat and steal to pay 50% of their income for a house? If not the downside risks are much greater.

At a neutral interest rate, housing is still more expensive than the fundamentals justify with a 40% haircut.

^^ lack of Supply is a huge myth..anybody with eyeballs can see the Building BOOM we have been in for yrs here..it's just what is being built and it's purpose is the problem..it's Air BnB's and vacation homes , not 1st time buyers, or Family or even affordable rental/low income housing...Our Government should have should been replenishing the rental stock decades ago..instead they turned housing which is a NEED into a commodity and lower the interest rates to fuel it and print money like it's water and here we are..over priced shelter, more homeless, more crime and high inflation

[BC Landlord]

^^ lack of Supply is a huge myth..anybody with eyeballs can see the Building BOOM we have been in for yrs here..it's just what is being built and it's purpose is the problem..it's Air BnB's and vacation homes , not 1st time buyers, or Family or even affordable rental/low income housing...Our Government should have should been replenishing the rental stock decades ago..instead they turned housing which is a NEED into a commodity and lower the interest rates to fuel it and print money like it's water and here we are..over priced shelter, more homeless, more crime and high inflation

Get a loan, find a builder, and build whatever your heart desires. Don’t expect from someone else to do your bidding, much less from a government. The best thing governments can do is to get out of way of businesses.

[W105]

^^ lack of Supply is a huge myth..anybody with eyeballs can see the Building BOOM we have been in for yrs here..it's just what is being built and it's purpose is the problem..it's Air BnB's and vacation homes , not 1st time buyers, or Family or even affordable rental/low income housing...Our Government should have should been replenishing the rental stock decades ago..instead they turned housing which is a NEED into a commodity and lower the interest rates to fuel it and print money like it's water and here we are..over priced shelter, more homeless, more crime and high inflation

Get a loan, find a builder, and build whatever your heart desires. Don’t expect from someone else to do your bidding, much less from a government. The best thing governments can do is to get out of way of businesses.

^^ no thanks...and no need too..and yes the Government needs to restock the rental supply for renters and low income, seniors etc..and yes they created this mess and yes we should all expect them to fix it and not with their band aid fixes that do nothing..what did they expect was going to happen when they made borrowing money dirt cheap and turned housing into a commodity ?? good times for ever ??