Mark Coons
Personal Real Estate Corporation · eXp Realty
A factual, visual breakdown of the Central Okanagan residential market across single family, townhomes, and apartments. The data showing where the market has been, and what it's actually doing today.
May 2026 numbers across all residential property types in the Central Okanagan, with year-over-year context. These are the headline figures everything else in this report builds on.
Looking at May 2026 versus May 2025: inventory has come down, new listings are slower to hit the market, and homes are selling faster than they were a year ago. Sales volume is essentially flat. Prices have softened modestly. The direction of travel across most indicators is moving back toward what the Central Okanagan considered normal before 2020.
A decade of monthly median sale prices across all property types. The 2022 peak, the 2023-2024 correction, and where we sit now — all visible at once. Switch between segments below.
Monthly median, Central Okanagan
How far each property type has moved off its March 2022 peak
When average pulls away from median, the high end is driving the data
All four property segments peaked in March 2022. Single Family is down 19% from peak. Townhomes are off 15%. Apartments are off 17%. But the slope of the decline has flattened materially over the last 12 months — prices today are in a similar range to where they were 12-18 months ago, not continuing to fall sharply.
Sale prices are a lagging indicator. Active inventory and sales volume are leading indicators. Here is the supply/demand dynamic in one chart, by segment, going back a decade.
Gold = active listings (supply). Teal = sales (demand). The gap between them is the key.
When the gold (supply) and teal (sales) lines are close together, sellers tend to have more leverage — think 2016-2017 and 2020-2022. When the gap widens, buyers have more leverage — visible in 2019 and through late 2024 into early 2025. Today the gap is still wide compared to pre-COVID, but compare May 2025 to May 2026 on the chart: the gold line has dropped while the teal line has held steady. The gap is closing, not widening.
Months of Inventory (MOI) answers one question: at the current pace of sales, how long would it take to sell everything currently for sale? Under 4 months favours sellers. 4-6 months is balanced. Over 6 months favours buyers.
All four property types tracked monthly. Where each segment sits on the seller's/buyer's spectrum.
Total MOI peaked at 13 months in January 2026 — the highest reading since 2019. It has since fallen to 8 months in May 2026. Apartments specifically moved from 9.6 months (May 2025) to 6.4 months (May 2026) — the fastest tightening of any segment. Townhomes remain the most buyer-friendly segment.
Days to Sell is a real-time pulse check. When this number drops, buyers are deciding faster. When it rises, hesitation is building.
10-year view. Median (gold) is the typical experience. Average (teal) is pulled up by long-lingering listings.
The market has moved through clearly defined chapters. Each one has different rules, different leverage, different prices. Comparing where we are now to each historical era puts current numbers in honest context.
It's worth being honest about what we are and aren't comparing here. Pre-COVID had lower inventory, more monthly sales, lower MOI, and prices roughly 55% lower than today. After the run-up between 2020 and 2022, prices climbed sharply in a short window and have settled at a much higher plateau than where they started the decade. Sales volumes today are still below pre-COVID levels, and MOI is higher — but through 2025 and into 2026, inventory is dropping and MOI is moving back toward those pre-COVID ranges. The market is working its way down to numbers that look more like 2018-2019 in pace and supply, just at a permanently higher price level. This is the new normal, and the data is gradually adjusting to it.
The same six metrics across all four property types, year-over-year. Each segment is telling a slightly different story.
| Metric | All Residential | Single Family | Townhomes | Apartments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median Price (May 26) | $748,400 | $932,000 | $688,000 | $430,000 |
| YoY Price Change | −4.4% | −8.2% | +0.4% | −6.7% |
| Active Listings | 3,530 | 1,572 | 432 | 789 |
| YoY Inventory Change | −11.1% | −12.1% | −2.3% | −16.5% |
| Sales (May 26) | 443 | 215 | 55 | 123 |
| YoY Sales Change | −3.5% | −7.7% | −26.7% | +25.5% |
| Months of Inventory | 8.0 | 7.3 | 7.9 | 6.4 |
| Median Days to Sell | 38 | 37 | 55 | 36 |
| % Off March 2022 Peak | −12.1% | −19.0% | −15.0% | −17.3% |
Apartments are the standout — sales up 26% year over year while inventory dropped 16.5%. Townhomes are the only segment with positive YoY price movement, even modest. Single Family still has the deepest correction from peak but the most resilient median dollar value. Days to sell dropped meaningfully in three of four segments.
Total sales numbers tell one story. Sales by price band tell a much more useful one. The last 12 months of MLS® sold transactions across the Central Okanagan, compared to the 12 months before. Where buyers are showing up is just as important as how many of them there are.
Last 12 months (Jun 2025 – May 2026) vs. prior 12 months (Jun 2024 – May 2025)
Single Family — % change in sales volume by band
Single Family: the $600K-$800K band saw nearly 29% more sales than the prior 12 months — the entry-level price point continues to draw the most demand. The luxury end ($1.5M+) also grew, while the $1M-$1.5M middle softened. Townhomes: the under-$500K and $500K-$650K bands both grew year over year, with the $650K-$1M middle slowing. Apartments: activity is concentrated at the bottom (under $350K up 9%) and the top ($700K+ up 27%) — the $450K-$550K middle dropped 27%, the softest band in any segment.
The Central Okanagan saw prices climb sharply between 2020 and the March 2022 peak. After that came a meaningful correction through 2023 and 2024, and then a long stretch in 2025 where the market worked through high inventory and slower sales.
The May 2026 data shows a different picture than May 2025. Inventory has come down. New listings are slower. Days to sell have shortened. Sales volume has held. Prices are still soft year over year, but the rate of decline has narrowed considerably.
The numbers today don't match the pre-COVID market on price — those days are gone, and prices have settled at a higher plateau than the 2016-2019 era. But on inventory levels, sales pace, and days on market, the data is gradually moving back toward what the Central Okanagan considered typical before the pandemic. This is what the new normal looks like as it settles in.