What Characteristics Are Behind The Kelowna Real Estate Boom

By M Walker


The Canadian province of British Columbia is a place of extreme beauty. Kelowna real estate is crying out for new listings. This is a good time to put a property up for sale.

What is driving this interest in property? Perhaps it is the long, meandering Lake Okanagan passing through the city. The province is on the west coast of Canada. Kelowna, aka Orchard City or K-town, is in the middle of BC on a line of latitude that bisects Vancouver Island.

The area was first settled by the French in the middle of the 19th century. It was nearly half a century later before the city was incorporated. Here, the climate is classified as humid continental. Roughly translated, this means it experiences four discrete seasons, dry, sunny summers and cold, cloudy winters. The elevation of the area is 344 metres. Famous people to have come from Kelowna include sports figures Tyler Shelast, Mike and Jason Crumb and Byron Dafoe. The late Premier of British Columbia, W. A. C. Bennett, was also a local.

The tourism industry provides most of the jobs here. Visitors flock here for biking, golf, hiking and boating in the summer time. Popular winter sports include Nordic and Alpine skiing at nearby Silver Star and Big White resorts. There is loads to see and do here and no shortage of nice places to stay. Among the attractions are historic sites such as Father Pandosy Mission, Guisachan Heritage Park and Myra Canyon Trestles. Various festivals are held throughout the year, including Parks Alive!, Arts Alive! and Celebrate Canada Day. There are also a number of major social gatherings geared around the town's successful wine industry.

The town is completely surrounded by huge nature reserves, placing it at the center of a huge oxygen factory. Greystone and Trepanier protected areas form the east-west axis of tranquility, while Fintry and Myra-Bellevue provincial parks form the south-north.

The southern climate is ideal for growing grapes, hence a lucrative wine industry has grown here. In fact, local wines have been noticed at the international level. The Okanagan Mountain Park fire destroyed a couple of these vineyards in 2003, but they were eventually restored. In 2014, the region was recognized by USA Today as one of the best wine regions for visitors.

A major manufacturer of a popular range of fruit juices is also located here. This is handy to the 13,000 students of higher education who are based here between the University of British Columbia (8,000) and Okanagan College (5,000). The Okanagan campus of UBC offers degrees in Management, Medicine, Health and Social Development, Applied Science, Education, as well as Creative and Critical Studies.

There are organizations that quantify key indicators of quality of life in cities all over the world. Here, Kelowna comes out looking very attractive. Factors that should be low are low (crime, pollution, traffic and property price to income ratio) and positive characteristics that should be high, are high. These are purchasing power, health care and safety. The property price to income ratio is a key indicator in real estate. A low ratio means that keeping a roof over a person's head does not gobble up a huge amount of the monthly paycheck. A high ratio means the opposite. Low is good.

The town has also appeared in a number of movies. Shed and Shed 2, both snowboarding films, were filmed at Big White. In 2006, the movie, "Fido, " was launched at the Toronto Film Festival. Fido was a thriller/horror/comedy/zombie film set in an alternate universe where a cloud of space radiation turned dead people into nearly dead people.

Public bus transportation is provided by the Kelowna Regional Transit System. Despite this, the town is one of the most automobile-dependent areas of Canada. More than 65 percent of the total greenhouse emissions in this city are attributed to its love affair with the car.

It is easy to see why property here is so much in demand. It is a delightful place to live. Even crime seems limited to events where liquor is available. It is a haven for nature-lovers and has a very high quality of life overall. It is a peaceful community. Because of the massive demand for housing, it is a good time to sell. On the other hand, as the area's popularity continues to grow, this is also a good time to invest in Kelowna property.




About the Author:



Aucun commentaire:

Enregistrer un commentaire