The Average Joe Update for Merritt & Area.

If you want the September real estate market summed up without the jargon, here it is:

Things slowed down. Prices mostly didn't.

That distinction matters.

Across the Kamloops & District region, fewer homes sold in September than a year ago, but benchmark prices remained remarkably stable. Merritt was actually one of the exceptions on the sales side, recording twice as many detached-home sales as September 2025—although we're dealing with small numbers, so don't start ordering the champagne just yet. 

Here's the Average Joe version of what's going on.

First, the big picture: Kamloops & District

There were 189 residential sales across the entire Kamloops & District region in September, down 14.9% compared with September 2025. Those sales represented $105.2 million in real estate changing hands, down a much larger 24.2%.

Meanwhile, there were 1,404 active listings, only 2.2% fewer than last year, and 446 new listings, actually up 1.4%. 

In normal-person language:

There are plenty of homes for sale, but buyers aren't exactly fighting in the driveway to get them.

That gives buyers time to look around, compare properties and negotiate. Sellers can absolutely still sell, but pricing your house based on what your neighbour got during the craziness of 2021 or 2022 probably isn't a winning strategy.

What's happening with detached homes?

Across Kamloops & District, 87 detached homes sold in September, down 20.9% from a year earlier.

But here's the important part:

The benchmark price was $659,100 — down just 0.1%.

So sales dropped significantly while prices essentially didn't move at all. Detached homes took an average of 65 days to sell, and there were 619 available at the end of the month. 

That's a pretty good snapshot of this market.

Slower does not necessarily mean cheaper.

People aren't buying at the same pace, but we also aren't seeing sellers collectively slash prices to get out.

Merritt: More sales, slightly softer prices

Now to the market I'm watching most closely.

Merritt recorded 10 detached-home sales in September, compared with just five during September 2025. That's a 100% year-over-year increase.

At the same time, Merritt's detached benchmark price came in at $451,300, down 2.8% year-over-year. Kamloops & District – Sept…

That combination is interesting.

More houses are changing hands, but buyers aren't pushing prices higher. If anything, prices have softened slightly.

For sellers, I'd read that as:

There are buyers out there. You just have to meet the market.

A properly priced home can absolutely sell. An overpriced home can sit while buyers move along to something else.

For buyers, this is a pretty comfortable environment. You've got some negotiating power without needing to worry that the market is collapsing underneath you.

Merritt townhomes and apartments

September was extremely quiet outside detached homes.

There was one Merritt townhouse sale, with the townhouse benchmark sitting at $329,600, up 2.0% year-over-year.

There were no apartment sales during the month, while the apartment benchmark was $276,100, down 1.3%. 

With numbers this small, I wouldn't read too much into one month's percentage changes. One or two transactions can make a small market look dramatically better or worse than it really is.

Logan Lake: VERY quiet September

If Merritt picked up, Logan Lake went the other direction.

Just one detached home sold in Logan Lake during September, down from six a year ago—a decline of 83.3%.

The detached benchmark price was $455,000, down 3.4% year-over-year.

On the apartment side, three units sold and the benchmark price sat at just $173,700, down 1.4%. 

Before anyone declares the Logan Lake real estate apocalypse, remember:

It's Logan Lake. It's a small market.

Going from six sales to one creates a terrifying-looking percentage, but we're talking about five fewer houses.

That's why percentages in small towns need context.

Merritt vs. Logan Lake vs. the Kamloops region

Here's probably the most useful number in the entire report for someone considering where to buy.

One important disclaimer: the report provides a benchmark for Kamloops & District as a whole, not one single "City of Kamloops" benchmark, so I'm using the regional figure for the broad comparison. Individual Kamloops neighbourhoods vary substantially. Kamloops & District – Sept…

Still, the affordability gap is pretty hard to ignore.

The benchmark detached home in Merritt is about $208,000 less than the Kamloops & District benchmark.

That's roughly a 32% difference.

And Merritt and Logan Lake? They're essentially neck-and-neck at $451,300 versus $455,000.

Detached home benchmark prices — September 2026

Benchmark prices reported by the Association of Interior REALTORS®. Kamloops figure represents the broader Kamloops & District region.

Market	Price
Merritt	451300
Logan Lake	455000
Kamloops & District	659100

September 2026 market statistics

So why does that matter?

For someone living on the Coast who's looking at what their money buys outside the Lower Mainland, this is where Merritt becomes interesting.

We're not talking about saving $10,000 or $20,000.

We're talking about a benchmark difference of roughly $200,000 compared with the broader Kamloops region, while still being in a community with straightforward highway access to both Kamloops and the Lower Mainland.

That difference can mean a smaller mortgage, more property, a detached house instead of attached housing—or simply having some money left over after buying the house.

Novel concept, I know.

What about townhouses and condos?

Across the entire Kamloops & District region, townhouses held up fairly well. The benchmark price reached $510,300, up 0.9%, despite sales falling 5.7%.

Apartments had a benchmark of $366,900, down 0.8%, while sales were down 21.4%. Apartments were also taking considerably longer to sell at 89 days, up 16.5% from last year. 

Again, the theme isn't falling off a cliff.

It's patience.

What does September tell us if you're a buyer?

You're shopping in a much calmer market than buyers experienced a few years ago.

You generally have time to think.

You can look at comparable properties.

You can do your due diligence.

And depending on the property and seller, there may be room to negotiate.

That doesn't mean every seller is going to accept a lowball offer because you watched three TikToks saying the Canadian housing market is about to implode.

But buyers have leverage again.

That's healthy.

What does September tell us if you're selling?

The good news is that Merritt proved there are buyers in the market.

Ten detached sales isn't enormous, but doubling last September's number while the wider region saw detached sales fall more than 20% is certainly worth paying attention to. 

The catch is that Merritt's benchmark price fell 2.8%.

To me, that reinforces something I've been saying for a while:

The market will reward a good property at the right price. It won't necessarily rescue an overpriced one.

Buyers have options. If yours doesn't make sense, they can wait.

The Average Joe September takeaway

If I had to boil the September numbers down to three sentences:

Kamloops & District slowed down, but prices remained remarkably stable. Merritt bucked the regional sales trend with a good month for detached homes, although prices softened slightly. Logan Lake had an extremely quiet month, but with such a small market, one month's numbers need to be taken with a very large grain of salt.

For Merritt specifically, I don't see these numbers screaming buyer's market disaster or seller's market boom.

I see a market that's actually behaving pretty normally.

Price it right. Market it properly. Negotiate when you need to. And don't let one scary percentage in a headline convince you that the sky is falling.

That's not very exciting.

But after the real estate roller coaster of the last few years, boring might not be such a bad thing.