Historically the Okanagan real estate market has been relatively stable and growing. In addition to being on the cusp of a long expansion cycle, the Kelowna market has been strengthening thanks to young professionals and baby boomers alike. There’s a mini tech boom happening – a lot of young people earning similar rates to what’s offered in the lower mainland but living costs are more affordable here. Both housing and office space are much less costly in the Okanagan, making it a more affordable locale for both tech companies and their employees. There’s also more impetus to retire in Kelowna now, and there seems to be a steady drip-feed of demand coming in from Edmonton and Calgary. It never used to be a place to buy a second home or retire, but prospective buyers are getting wise.
BUT will it continue to be a top choice for tech and retirees in a post-COVID world? What impact will this crisis have on local real estate?
Join us as we chat with Andrew Gaucher about real estate investing in secondary markets like Kelowna and what might come next as the economic impacts of the pandemic continue to develop.
What you’ll learn:
- How to think about commercial real estate and development opportunities
- How COVID-19 might impact secondary markets like Kelowna
- Q&A
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2020
Time: 6:00 PM PT via Zoom (1 hour)
If you missed it, you can watch the recording here:
Original Event Details:
Speaker Bio:
Andrew Gaucher is a local legend of sorts in the Kelowna real estate scene. When you look at his resume, it quickly becomes clear why. He (somehow) splits his nine-to-five between being the VP of the McKinley Beach community, the founder and president of Catalyst Land Development, and the GM of GGroup Land Development. As if that wasn’t enough, he also finds time to enrich Kelowna’s real estate market as a Director of Okanagan’s Urban Development Institute. Oh, and he also founded the Kelowna chapter of TEDx. Not only does he manage to successfully divide his time between his successful real estate development companies and volunteer work, he manages to do it all with minimal impact to the environment–a personal goal of his.
Andrew founded Green Solutions (now renamed Dynamic Constructors) in 2006, becoming Kelowna’s first accredited green builder. And this is all just what he’s currently working on. His previous involvement in the Kelowna real estate scene reads more like a phone book than a resume. He’s been on several local boards that span commerce, entrepreneurial and economic development. In other words, he knows Kelowna pretty well.
