Engel & Völkers Okanagan
581 Clifton Court, Kelowna, B.C.
Asking price: $1,999,900 (Jan. 3, 2022)
Selling price: $2,085,250 (Jan. 28, 2022)
Days on market: 25
Buyer’s agent: Richard Deacon, Engel & Völkers Okanagan
The Action
The house only had the foundation built when Richard Deacon’s Toronto clients viewed it. Because it’s not easy to sell a blank slate, he said his buyers had the advantage over other buyers. At the time, it was a competitive market.
“It took a year and a half to build, a little behind schedule, but not crazy,” Mr. Deacon says.
The buyers, a family, added custom details to the spec house, such as a larger gym and full bathrooms for each of their daughters, which added to the asking price. The sale completed Jan. 16, 2023, and the family is now living in the house.
In November, 2021, Mr. Deacon sold another house at 597 Clifton Court to another Toronto family, for $1,964,950. The purchaser paid a lower price because they didn’t customize the home as much. Their home completed Feb. 16, 2023.
What they got
The home has high ceilings, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, movie theatre, gym, wine cellar and covered deck.Engel & Völkers Okanagan
This newly built house is part of North Clifton Estates, a multiphase development with lake and mountain views.
The Edmonton-based developer built a 4,611-square-foot contemporary house on the lot, which is 65-feet wide and 179-feet long. The home has high ceilings, five bedrooms, four bathrooms, movie theatre, gym, wine cellar and covered deck.
It’s a 10-minute drive to downtown and close to hiking trails and the University of B.C. Okanagan campus.
The agent’s take
“These were on the Multiple Listing Service, but unfortunately you are staring at a bare lot and there’s construction all around you, and a lot of buyers don’t want to deal with that,” Mr. Deacon says. “They don’t have the fortitude or the stomach to deal with a 12- to 18-month time frame and wonder what it will look like. It takes a certain kind of buyer.”
The family moved into the house in January, he says, and it turned out as expected. His other Toronto buyers move in this month. If they sold their houses today, he says they would be “well over $2-million.”
Inventory is tight in the Okanagan, which has kept prices high. “But we will see what happens in the spring,” he added.