The Penticton real estate market slowed down in July. Sales fell compared to this time last year and are still sitting well below what you would normally see at this point in the season. Inventory is coming down as well, but buyers still have plenty of choice out there.
One thing worth flagging before I get into the numbers: the wildfires did not start until August, so nothing you see here reflects them. Those numbers will show up in the August report. Everything below covers the entire South Okanagan, not just Penticton — Summerland all the way down to Osoyoos and the smaller communities in between.
There were 174 sales across the whole South Okanagan market in July, down almost 10% from this time last year. Active listings finished the month at 1,362, down roughly 15% year over year. That combination is showing up across most of the Okanagan right now — listings pulling back everywhere, with sales moving in different directions depending on the area. Kelowna and Vernon have seen sales hold up better; here in the South Okanagan they came off about 10%.
Dividing those active listings by the number of sales gives just under 8 months of inventory. That puts the region firmly in buyer’s market territory. For context, anything between 4 and 6 months is what I would call balanced, and five or six years ago we were nowhere near that — we were deep into a seller’s market. Practically speaking, 8 months of inventory means that if nothing else came to market, it would take about eight months to sell through everything currently listed.
July sales peaked in 2020 at 274 — exactly 100 more than we saw this July. 2021 was still busy, 2022 took a sharp drop as rates climbed, and we have been slowly recovering since. 2025 was the strongest sales year since that peak, and now we are coming off again. At 174 sales, we are running roughly 13% below the 10-year July average of 199.
Listings tell a different story. In 2021 there were just 682 active listings, which is the kind of number that produces the seller’s market we lived through. Inventory has been rebuilding ever since, peaking last year around 1,600. We are now at 1,362 — still about 9% above the 10-year average of 1,254, but clearly heading down. I do not expect to see 1,600 again unless something dramatic happens. My read is that we settle into something more balanced over the next few years.
There were 75 single-family sales in July, down almost 11% year over year. Inventory in this category came off more than 20% compared to last year. That works out to 7.27 months of inventory — a buyer’s market, but a tightening one.
If you are selling a home right now, the average time to sell in the Penticton area is 76 days, which is up from last year. And that number is probably conservative, because these calculations only count the most recent listing. Homes that were cancelled and relisted reset the clock, so real-world timelines are often longer.
On negotiations, buyers and sellers are settling about 3.1% below the last list price on average. On a $900,000 asking price, that is roughly $27,900 off. The absorption rate — sales divided by inventory — is 13.8%, meaning about 14 of every 100 listed homes actually sold in July.
Townhome sales dropped harder, down over 22% to 21 sales. That said, the South Okanagan is a smaller market and there simply are not many townhomes to begin with, so these numbers swing around a lot month to month. There were 146 townhomes listed, a slight increase over last year.
Townhomes are taking 82 days on average to sell — closer to three months once you account for cancelled and relisted properties. The list-to-sale price ratio sits at 96.5%, so buyers and sellers are negotiating about 3.5% off the last list price. On a $700,000 townhome that is close to $25,000. Absorption is running at roughly 14 of every 100 properties, same buyer’s market picture as single-family.
The condo story here is the same one playing out across most of the country. There were 27 condo sales in July, down 25%, against 284 active listings. Inventory is down over 21% from last year but still high enough to produce 10.5 months of inventory — deep buyer’s market territory.
The average days on market shows 143, but I would not take that at face value. I went through every individual condo sale, and there were three that sat over 400 days, including one at roughly 1,300 days — a brand new unit from five or six years ago. Strip those out and the realistic number is closer to 90 days. If someone tells you condos are taking 143 days to sell, dig into the actual data before you panic.
Negotiations are hardest in this category. The list-to-sale ratio is 95.5%, meaning about 4.5% off the last list price. On a $500,000 condo, that is $22,500. Fewer than 10 of every 100 condos are selling in a given month. If you are buying a condo right now, you have real leverage. If you are selling one, pricing and presentation are close to everything.
This is the part that surprises people. Despite the softer sales, the higher inventory and all the negotiating going on, benchmark prices have been remarkably steady. As of July, the benchmark single-family home in the South Okanagan sits at $761,000, townhomes at $509,000, and condos at $438,000.
For comparison, the benchmark single-family home in Kelowna is over $1 million right now. There is meaningfully more value in Penticton on a per-dollar basis, though it is a smaller market and whether that trade makes sense depends entirely on what you want out of daily life.
Single-family prices have been essentially flat since April after climbing through February and March. The peak was $834,000 in May 2022, and the bottom was around $691,000 — a level we hit in both January 2024 and February 2026. At $761,000 we are back to roughly February 2022 pricing. Zoom out five years and the same home was around $510,000, which puts the run-up in perspective.
Townhomes are bouncing along at just under $510,000 with a lot of month-to-month volatility, which is what happens when sales volumes are this low. The peak was $584,000 in May 2022. There was never a steep drop in this category the way there was elsewhere, so townhomes have stayed relatively level. Condos are at $438,000, up from about $400,000 at the start of the year, against an August 2022 peak of $481,000. All three property types are sitting near where they were in early 2022.
This is a 30,000-foot view of the market. Your specific street, price point and property type can look very different from the averages. But the broad picture is consistent: buyers have choice, time and negotiating room, while sellers who price to today’s market — not to 2022 — are still transacting.
If you are thinking about a move to Penticton or anywhere in the Okanagan, I am happy to walk through what these numbers mean for your particular situation.
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