KELOWNA, B.C. – Wildfires that forced evacuations and destroyed homes across the B.C. Interior in August also took a toll on the region’s real estate market, with new figures showing a sharper-than-usual seasonal slowdown in sales.
The Association of Interior Realtors reported residential sales across the region fell nearly 24 per cent from July to August. While a summer dip is typical, the association said this year’s decline was notably steeper, with August sales down 13.4 per cent compared to the same month in 2025.
“August was a difficult month for our communities,” AIR president Ryan Mayne said in a statement. “Evacuations displaced families, homes were lost, and the focus rightfully shifted away from real estate. Our thoughts are with everyone affected.”
Mayne said the drop in activity was an understandable response to the disruption many residents faced during the fires.
Benchmark prices softened across most of the region, falling from July levels in seven of nine housing categories tracked across the Okanagan. Single-family homes in the North and South Okanagan were the only categories to see price gains month-over-month. Year over year, prices rose across all South Okanagan categories, but declined in the townhouse and condo-apartment segments in both the North and Central Okanagan.
New listings also pulled back, with 2,062 properties entering the market in August – down 17.9 per cent from a year earlier and down from July’s 2,569. Active listings totalled 9,378 across the AIR region, a 7.7 per cent drop from August 2025 and a decrease from July’s 9,630.
The impact varied by geography. Kamloops and the Kootenay/Boundary region saw smaller year-over-year sales declines than the rest of the Interior, a contrast the association linked to the location of the summer’s largest fires, which burned near Summerland and Vernon.
“Despite challenging summer conditions, the Kootenay and Boundary real estate market continued to outperform many other markets across the province,” Mayne said, adding that activity in the region remains healthy heading into fall even as momentum eased slightly in August.
In Kamloops, benchmark prices were down across the board compared to a year earlier, with the apartment-condo category the only one to rise from July. Mayne said the Kamloops and District market “held up relatively well” given the smoke and fire conditions affecting much of the province, with sales tracking close to last year’s pace and a balanced relationship between supply and demand.
The figures add to a market that association officials describe as already soft heading into the summer, with the wildfires compounding an existing slowdown rather than initiating a new one.
