Every few months, someone in real estate will tell you what buyers are doing based on a vibe. Interest rates shifted, so millennials must be flooding back in. The economy is uncertain, so people must be sitting on the sidelines. It all sounds plausible until you look at actual survey data.

The South Okanagan Similkameen Real Estate Association conducts a buyer survey each month. The February 2026 results cover 176 respondents across the region, and the picture they paint is more grounded, and more interesting, than most of the narratives you'll read in the national press.

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The Market Is Mostly Local

The Okanagan's buyers are predominantly people already here. Nearly 68% of February purchasers came from within the local Association area. Another 13.6% arrived from the Lower Mainland or Vancouver Island. Alberta contributed 6.2%, and Eastern Canada and the Maritimes combined for about 4.5%.

That matters for a few reasons. It means local demand is structural, not episodic. This isn't primarily a market driven by outsiders discovering the valley or fleeing some other city. The people buying here mostly already live here. They know the market, they have roots, and they're making long-term decisions rather than speculative ones.

It also provides some insulation from inter-provincial migration swings. The Okanagan has benefited significantly from Alberta and Lower Mainland buyers in past cycles. Those buyers are still showing up, but at roughly one in five purchases combined, they're a meaningful supplement to local demand rather than the engine of it.

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Who These Buyers Are

The most common buyer types in February were first-time buyers at 22.2%, move-up buyers at 21.6%, and buyers making a lateral move into a similar property at 19.3%. Downsizers came in at 11.9%, investment buyers at 8%, and strata-to-single-family or single-family-to-strata transitions each at around 4.5%.

A few things stand out here. First-time buyers leading the pack is notable given where affordability has sat over the past few years. It suggests that despite elevated prices, entry into ownership is still happening, probably through a mix of saved down payments, parental assistance (a few survey respondents specifically mentioned family-supported purchases), and the FHSA and RRSP Home Buyers' Plan tools that have made accumulating a down payment more tax-efficient than it used to be.

Move-up buyers running nearly neck and neck with first-timers reflects a market with reasonable velocity at both ends. When move-up activity is strong, it usually means existing owners feel confident enough in their equity position and income stability to commit to a larger purchase. That's a reasonably healthy signal for the broader market.

The comments section of the survey adds texture the numbers alone can't capture. Several buyers were moving out of renting into ownership for the first time. One purchase was made on behalf of an adult child. There was a divorce-related transaction, a buyer relocating from Manitoba, and at least one respondent anticipating multigenerational living arrangements. The Okanagan's buyer pool, in other words, isn't monolithic. It's families making complicated decisions at real inflection points in their lives.

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The Financing Picture

This is where the February data gets genuinely interesting. Conventional mortgages with 20% or more down accounted for just over half of purchases at 50.9%. Cash buyers were a substantial second group at 33.5%. High-ratio mortgages under 20% down made up the remaining 15.6%, with just one buyer needing rental income to qualify.

One in three purchases closing with no mortgage at all is a high number. It points to a buyer pool with substantial accumulated wealth, consistent with empty nesters and downsizers liquidating larger properties, as well as out-of-province buyers converting equity from higher-priced markets. It also means roughly two-thirds of February's buyers were either cash buyers or came in with 20% or more down. That's a financially conservative cohort by any standard, and it has implications for how sensitive this market is to interest rate movements. Buyers who don't need financing, or who have large down payments, are far less affected by rate changes than highly leveraged first-timers would be.

High-ratio mortgages at 15.6% represent mostly the first-time buyer segment, and that figure is consistent with a market where affordability constraints have pushed first-timers to the edges of what they can qualify for, while still finding ways to close.

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Where Properties Are Being Purchased

Kelowna and West Kelowna dominated at 42.7% of transactions, with Vernon and Coldstream next at 18%, followed by Salmon Arm at 10.1% and Penticton and Naramata at 9.6%.

The concentration in Kelowna and West Kelowna isn't surprising given the region's employment base, amenities, and inventory depth. But the spread across Vernon and Salmon Arm is worth noting. Those markets have been drawing buyers who find central Kelowna pricing difficult to absorb, and the data confirms that activity is genuinely distributed across the valley rather than being strictly a Kelowna story. The BC government's housing targets, which named Kelowna as the only Interior city in its 10-community supply initiative, will continue to shape new inventory distribution in the central part of the region over the next few years.

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What This Means Depending on Where You Sit

For sellers, the February data describes a buyer pool that is local, financially capable, and motivated by real life circumstances rather than speculation. That means properties priced accurately for their market and condition are going to find a buyer, because the demand is genuine. It also means overshooting on price in hopes of catching an out-of-province buyer flush with equity is a riskier strategy than it might have been in 2021.

For buyers, the competition you're facing is mostly from people in similar situations. Move-up buyers, first-timers, and lateral movers make up the bulk of the market. Cash buyers are a real presence, but they're not a speculative wave. They're largely people closing chapters in their housing history, not investors buying to flip.

For investors, the relatively modest 8% share for investment purchases is worth reading carefully. It doesn't indicate the market is unfriendly to investment. It indicates that investment buyers are a smaller part of the February picture than owner-occupiers, which is generally a stable market characteristic. Rental demand in the Okanagan remains firm, and the fundamentals around long-term real estate investment in the region remain intact.

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The Bigger Picture

One month of survey data is a data point, not a trend. But February 2026 describes an Okanagan market driven by people with real reasons to buy, real equity behind their offers, and real ties to the region they're buying into. That's a more durable foundation than the headline-driven cycles that characterize less grounded markets.

If you want to understand what the current market means for your specific situation, whether you're thinking about buying, selling, or holding, the team at Coldwell Banker Horizon Realty works across all of these buyer segments and can give you a grounded read on where things stand.