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Kamloops  

Growth in Kamloops real estate market will continue without intervention, realtors say

Real estate still soaring

The real estate market across B.C. continues to soar, and Kamloops is no different.

Chelsea Mann, newly named president of Kamloops and District Real Estate Association (KADREA), said the trend continued through the month of March.

"In March this year, we added the highest amount of new listings, 480 new listings in March," Mann told Castanet Kamloops.

"So that was the highest amount in the last 12 months."

Unfortunately, properties are selling just as quickly as they are listed — continuing the sellers' market trend.

Aaron Krausert, Vice-president of KADREA, said people are sitting on more cash now than they have in a long time.

"A stat I heard last week is that people have saved more money in 2020 than they had in the entire previous seven years," Krausert said.

Saving money by not going on vacation or eating out, some buyers are able to offer more money on houses — especially since they are spending much more time in them.

"What's happening is buyers are getting stressed out, and putting in what some media is calling 'bully' offers," Krausert said.

"Here's a really good offer, maybe subject free and above asking, but it's only open for 24 hours — and so they are putting a lot of pressure on the seller."

Traditionally, in a sellers' market, the seller holds all the cards — but now, with these rush offers, the pressure is on.

Whether the market can continue on this trend doesn't seem likely, but how it will stop it is unknown.

"The higher demand, the extreme low inventory, still historically low mortgage rates, if none of those factors are really changing, we can't really expect a different result," said Mann.

Krausert agrees, thinking without the government stepping in with either increasing mortgage rates or some other factor, the sellers market will continue on this trend.

"I could see this continuing for the next year unless there is some kind of intervention," he said,



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