This past spring, realtors from the Fraser Valley to the Okanagan to Vancouver Island were deluged with inquiries from prospective buyers looking for more space to spread out their pandemic-challenged families and home offices. Single-family home prices have remained remarkably resilient, especially in communities within an hour’s drive of a larger hub. In Greater Victoria, benchmark single-family home prices reached an all-time high of $1.03 million. In Vancouver, multiple offers and quick sale are still the norm. In the Central Okanagan, there were almost 50 per cent more sales of single-family homes in July 2020 than there had been a year earlier.
By Steven Threndyle