Kelowna / Central Okanagan

Whether you’re a millennial or a baby boomer, Kelowna ranks high on your right sizing list. The commercial, transportation and tourist hub of the Okanagan Valley has got the magic combination that small cities strive for: a large regional hospital, an international airport that connects not just business commuters from Vancouver and Calgary but travelers from abroad, and, perhaps most significantly, an ex-panding Okanagan campus of the University of British Columbia.

The Central Okanagan contains three major community clusters: Kelowna, running from the north side of the William R. Bennett Bridge to Kelowna International Airport; West Kelowna (formerly Westbank), south of the bridge, where much market-rate housing and many businesses are located on lease-hold lands administered by Westbank First Nation; and Lake Country, a handful of towns dotted along Highway 97 north of Kelowna International Airport.

Today, Kelowna’s downtown and waterfront parks system is experiencing a refresh, with high-end condominiums slated for Water Street that will be close to the lively summer scene of cafés and nightlife. The newly renovated Kelowna Yacht Club is one of the finest moorages in Canada, with berths for more than 1,000 boats. The area’s appeal to right-sizers has been recognized for decades, with tailored resort communities. Its future, however, is linked to a wide variety of emerging businesses you might expect to find in Vancouver or Seattle: technology, health care and modern manufacturing, and the skilled labour communities they attract. Real estate prices are starting to reflect growth, to some extent: with a median house price of $620,000 (up 12 per cent from 2017), Kelowna is costlier to live in than other B.C. towns.

The region has urban accents you’ll recognize: suburban-style big-box retail and anchor tenants like lululemon in a former Bank of Montreal downtown and MEC Kelowna in Orchard Plaza. There are no less than 15 Starbucks, including a drive-through. August Luxury Motorcars not only sells Porsche, Audi and Mercedes-Benz vehicles, they offer exotic supercar tours of the twisting Okanagan backroads in your choice of Ferrari, Aston Martin or Lamborghini. Well-established wineries like Mission Hill, Summerhill and Gray Monk have been joined by dozens of upstart arrivals like The Hatch and Martin’s Lane. What are you waiting for?

Work: The Okanagan tech community is one of only five tech communities worldwide selected to participate in the Techstars Community Pilot Project. The Techstars team will perform an innovative, founders-first assessment of the Okanagan startup ecosystem.

Play: Big White Ski Resort is B.C.’s second-largest by skier-visits, with $10-million in improvements slated for 2018, including to the mountain bike park.

Culture: Site of numerous summer festivals and events, with the Rotary Centre for the Arts and Kelowna Art Gallery as year-round cultural hubs.

Municipalities & Districts:
Kelowna – www.kelowna.ca
West Kelowna – www.westkelownacity.ca

Real Estate:
Kelowna Listings
Central Okanagan Listings 

Realtors:
Bo Skapski – www.BoKnowsHomes.com– 250 878 3878
Joe White – https://joekelowna.com/
Sally Hollingsworth – http://sallysellskelowna.ca/

Developments:
1151 Sunset Drive – 1151sunset.com
24 Kelowna – aquilinidevelopment.com
Aqua – missiongroup.ca
Cadence at the Lakes – CadenceKelowna.com
Central Green – centralgreen.ca
Diamond Mountain – diamondmountain.ca
ELLA – liveatella.com
Granite at McKinley Beach – graniteatmckinley.com
Gyro Beach Townhomes – gyrobeach.ca
Lakestone – lakestoneliving.com
Landing at Wood Lake – thelandingatwoodlake.ca
McKinley Beach – mckinleybeach.ca
One Water Street West Tower – onewaterstreet.ca and kerkhoff.ca
Osprey at Pandosy Village –  ospreylandingkelowna.com
Saffron – rbconstructionltd.com
SoHo Kelowna – sohokelowna.com
SOPA Square – aquilinidevelopment.com
The Ranch at Tower Ranch – dilworthhomes.com
University Heights – ovationhomes.ca
Urbana at Central Green – missiongroup.ca
vert. – greensquare.ca and  roikadevelopments.com
Wilden – wilden.ca

Builders:
Discovery Dream Homes – discoverydreamhomes.com
Pan-abode – panabode.com

Note: Population is listed by either municipality or region. Sample listing represents a home near the median average selling price in 2017. Real estate trend metric uses B.C. Assessment data for value and includes sales of all property types.