It's inevitable.
People get Christmas on their minds and forget about buying or selling a house.
"Seasonally, it's not unusual for market activity to soften as we head into the December holidays," said Chelsea Mann, president of the 2,600-member Association of Interior Realtors and a realtor with Century 21 Realty Executives in Kamloops.
While Christmas is in December, the slowdown actually starts in November, which is why the data from last month from the association is foretelling
In Kamloops in November, 139 homes of all kinds (single-family, townhouse and condominium) sold, down from 149 in October.
That's not a huge drop, but remember it will be even less this month as people turn their attention to holiday parties and get together, shopping, the long weekend that will be Christmas and possible vacation time either side of it.
December figures, and year-end data, will be released by the association in early January.
Prices are a bit more of a mixed bag in Kamloops.
The benchmark selling price of a typical single-family home in the city in November was $661,200, up slightly from $655,500 in October.
In fact, the benchmark dipped as low as $605,000 in January 2023.
Those benchmarks are still well off the record-high of $820,990 in June 2022 when the housing market glowed in a post-pandemic boom.
Since then, runaway inflation and higher mortgage interest rates have dampened sales and prices.
"The cost of borrowing is creating a disconnect between what is currently achievable for buyers in terms of what they can afford given the interest rate pinch versus what may be their desired expectations," said Mann.
"It's challenging for some given the lack of affordable supply in many regions."
In November, only 20 townhouses changed hands and the benchmark selling price for a typical transaction was $532,400, down from $539,200 in October.
In January 2023, the townhouse benchmark dipped as low as $511,000.
The record-high benchmark for a townhouse was $569,400 in the spring of 2022.
When it comes to condos, only 18 sold in Kamloops last month, pretty much in keeping with the 19 sales in October.
November's benchmark was $397,000, off October's $405,400.
In January 2023, the benchmark was as low as $336,000.
For the first 10 months of the year, sales in Kamloops had been lagging the previous year.
However, activity in November jumped about 30% compared to November 2022.
"The increase in sales compared to last November is encouraging to see and may indicate that a return to average activity may be on the horizon," said Mann.
