[Sheba]

Space, access to outdoors drawing homebuyers to B.C.'s Interior during pandemic

Property sales in B.C.'s Interior are on the rise, and real estate agents say a growing number of their clients are people looking for more space to wait out the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a spring dip attributed to the coronavirus, residential sales in the Okanagan and Shuswap regions increased in both June and July, according to new numbers released by the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board.

In June, buyers purchased 791 units, up from 446 sold in May and 725 sold in June 2019.

July saw that number rise to 917, an increase from 810 in July 2019. The majority of sales were single-family homes.

Kim Heizmann, a Kelowna-based real estate agent and president of the board, attributed the increase to people looking for a change after experiencing life in lockdown.

She said the many of her clients are relocating from the Lower Mainland and Calgary following months working and socializing online in cramped urban quarters.

"If we do a second wave and a lockdown, [they're saying], 'We don't want to be locked down in the city,'" she said.

Tyler Hancock, a Realtor in Creston, B.C., and president of the Kootenay Association of Realtors, said he's hearing similar comments from his clients. He said while Albertans usually make up the bulk of new buyers in the area, he's seen an increase in sales to people from the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

"A lot of people that had to go into work are now able to work from home, so they're saying, 'Hey, if I can work from home, I'm going to choose an area that's more comfortable,'" he said.

"Our geographic distances are much further apart. We've got more acreages, you're not in multi-family homes, you've got more space."

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