Photo: Contributed

Inventory jumped last month and so did the prices in the BC Interior real estate market.

The Association of Interior Realtors released its February data on Tuesday, and sales were up across the board from January. The number of listings, meanwhile, were up compared to both January and February 2023.

Despite the uptick in listings, prices still found a way to move up in nearly all housing categories in every Okanagan region and in Kamloops.

“It is refreshing to see overall market activity starting to pick up ahead of spring, which is typically a busier season for real estate transactions,” Association of Interior Realtors president Chelsea Mann said in a press release. “With more potential interest rate improvements on the horizon, we are seeing more sellers who were previously hesitant to list gearing to jump in before the general real estate market spring rush.

“With an influx of inventory, it would seem that we may be in a transitioning period of recovery heading towards more balanced market conditions, which also comes as a relief to buyers looking for more options in their homebuying journeys.”

There are single-family, townhouse and condominium categories in each of the four Interior regions, but only one of the 12—townhouses in the North Okanagan—had its benchmark price drop from January to February.

The benchmark price of a single-family home in the Central Okanagan topped the $1 million mark once again in February, checking in at $1,009,100. That was a nearly 2% increase over January and representing the 20th time in the last 27 months it has been above the $1 million mark.

The largest percentage increase from January to February was condominiums in Central and North Okanagan, which were both up 4.7% from last month.