Buyer & Seller Guides

Why More South Okanagan Deals Are Coming in Subject-to-Sale

Riccardo Manazza · South Okanagan REALTOR® with eXp Realty · March 19, 2026

If you've been watching the South Okanagan market lately, you've probably noticed something that didn't show up nearly as often a few years ago: more accepted offers are coming together with a subject-to-sale condition attached.

For buyers and sellers, that can sound a little messy at first. But in a market like this one, it actually makes a lot of sense — and understanding why is one of the most useful things you can do before your next move.

A subject-to-sale offer means the buyer is prepared to move forward, but their purchase is conditional on selling their current home first. In a fast, high-pressure market, those offers often got pushed aside. Sellers had the luxury of waiting for cleaner, firmer terms. Today, with more inventory on the market and buyers moving more carefully, subject-to-sale offers are showing up more often — and getting more realistic consideration.

That doesn't mean the market is weak. It means the market is behaving more like a normal one. And in a normal market, the advantage goes to whoever has the clearest strategy.

1. What Is a Subject-to-Sale Offer?

Let's start with the basics, because there's still a lot of confusion around how these offers actually work — and what they commit both parties to.

A subject-to-sale offer is a conditional offer. The buyer is interested in your home, prepared to make a commitment, and agrees to the price and terms — but their ability to complete the purchase depends on selling their current home first. If their property sells within the agreed timeframe, the deal proceeds. If it doesn't, the deal falls away and the deposit is typically returned.

This is different from a straightforward conditional offer based on financing or inspection. With those conditions, the buyer already owns or is selling nothing — they're just waiting on a bank or a building assessment. With a subject-to-sale, there's a chain. Two transactions need to happen, not one.

That chain creates complexity, which is exactly why these offers became rare during the 2021–2022 seller's market frenzy. Sellers didn't need to accept complexity. They had multiple competing buyers, short timelines, and frequent bully offers. Conditions of any kind became bargaining chips — and subject-to-sale conditions were often dealbreakers.

That dynamic has shifted considerably. In 2026, with properties sitting longer before they sell and buyers taking more time to make decisions, the market has more room for these kinds of offers. They're not a sign of weakness. They're a sign of how real people make real decisions when they're not being artificially pressured by a frenzy.

2. Why This Is Happening Now in the South Okanagan

The numbers tell the story clearly. Across the South Okanagan, days on market have stretched to between 85 and 114 days depending on the community — with Penticton on the shorter end and Osoyoos at the longer end of that range. That's meaningful. It means properties are sitting for two to four months on average before selling.

When homes take that long to move, buyers who own property have a real problem. If they find something they want to buy, they can't just snap it up the way they could in 2021. They need to think carefully about what happens if their current home doesn't sell on their timeline. That pushes many of them toward subject-to-sale offers as a way of managing their financial risk.

At the same time, inventory across the broader Association of Interior REALTORS® region remains elevated at 7,206 active listings as of February 2026 — though slowly declining year over year. That inventory level still gives buyers meaningful options and negotiating room, which changes their psychology. They don't feel like they have to fight to get into a property. They can be more strategic about timing and conditions.

"Balanced conditions may ease the sense of urgency — but that's actually a sign of a healthy market finding its footing, providing buyers more breathing room and allowing sellers to navigate their options with confidence."

Add in the fact that many South Okanagan buyers are lifestyle-driven — moving for retirement, downsizing from a larger property, or transitioning between communities within the valley — and you have a demographic that naturally makes conditional moves. These aren't opportunistic investors looking for quick flips. They're people with roots here, who need to sell the home they've lived in before they move into the next chapter.

3. What Sellers Need to Know Before Saying No

Here's the most important thing I tell sellers who receive a subject-to-sale offer: don't decline it before you understand it.

The instinct to dismiss conditional offers is understandable. Sellers want certainty. They want to know the deal is done, that they can book their own move, that they're not going to lose weeks waiting for someone else's sale to come together. Those are legitimate concerns. But reflexively declining every subject-to-sale offer in a market like this one is a strategy that can leave you waiting much longer than the condition itself would have.

The first question you should ask isn't "Do I like conditions?" It's "How likely is this buyer's property to sell, and how quickly?" That means actually looking at the listing:

• Is the buyer's home already listed, or just being talked about?
• Is it priced competitively for its market, or sitting above comparable sales?
• How many days has it been on market? Is there traction or is it stale?
• Is the property in the same region, or somewhere else entirely with different market conditions?

A subject-to-sale offer backed by a well-priced, actively listed property in Penticton or Oliver is a completely different animal from one backed by a rural property in a slower market that's been sitting for six months. The risk profile is entirely different, and it should be evaluated accordingly.

4. How Buyers Can Make Their Offer More Competitive

If you're the buyer coming in with a subject-to-sale condition, you're asking the seller to carry some of your risk. That's not unreasonable in this market — but it means you need to do everything you can to minimize how much risk you're actually placing on them.

The most important thing you can do before making a subject-to-sale offer: list your own home first. Not think about listing it. Not have a conversation with an agent about possibly listing it. Actually list it, at a competitive price, with proper marketing in place. Walk in with that evidence. A seller who can see your listing, review its pricing relative to recent sales, and assess how it's positioned in the market has something concrete to evaluate. That changes the conversation completely.

Beyond listing, preparation matters in these areas:

• Mortgage pre-approval — have it in hand, not just in progress
• Competitive pricing on your current property — not what you hope to get, what the market will actually bear
• Reasonable condition timelines — offering 30 to 60 days is more credible than asking for 90+
• Willingness to accept a kick-out clause — this reassures the seller that they're not fully locked out of other opportunities
• A clean offer otherwise — the fewer other conditions you layer on top, the better

Think of it from the seller's perspective. They're evaluating not just your offer price, but your competence and credibility as a buyer. The more organized you appear, the more confident they can be that this deal is going to close.

5. Understanding the Kick-Out Clause

The kick-out clause — sometimes called a right-to-continue clause in BC real estate contracts — is the mechanism that makes subject-to-sale offers workable for sellers. It's worth understanding in detail, because it changes the risk calculation significantly.

Here's how it works: when a seller accepts a subject-to-sale offer with a kick-out clause, they agree to give the buyer time to sell their home — but they retain the right to continue marketing their property. If another offer comes in during that window, the seller notifies the original buyer. The buyer then has a set period of time — typically 24 to 72 hours in BC — to either remove their subject-to-sale condition and firm up the deal, or step aside so the seller can accept the competing offer.

This is not a blind commitment from the seller. It's a structured framework that protects both sides. The seller stays in the market. The buyer gets a fair window. If a stronger offer appears, the original buyer has a real choice to make — and needs to be ready to make it quickly.

For buyers, agreeing to a kick-out clause means being genuinely ready. If you get that notice call and you can't remove your condition because your home hasn't sold, you're out. That's the tradeoff. So if you're making a subject-to-sale offer with a kick-out clause, your pricing strategy on your own home isn't just about maximizing your sale — it's about speed. You need your property to move.

For sellers, the kick-out clause is the thing that makes it reasonable to accept a conditional offer without feeling like you've taken your home off the market entirely. Use it. Negotiate the notice window carefully. And make sure your agent is actively monitoring both transactions.

6. The Valley Chain Reaction

There's something particular about the South Okanagan that makes subject-to-sale offers especially relevant here: people move within the valley all the time.

A family in Penticton outgrows their townhome and wants a detached house in Summerland. A retiree in Oliver sells their acreage and downsizes into a low-maintenance unit in Osoyoos. A couple in Keremeos decides to move closer to amenities and looks at properties in the heart of Penticton. These are common moves. They're lifestyle moves. And almost all of them involve someone who owns a property that needs to sell before they can comfortably buy the next one.

That creates what I think of as a valley chain reaction. One sale depends on another. A decision made in one community ripples downstream into another. The market here doesn't behave like a single isolated transaction pool — it's interconnected across geography, price point, and property type in ways that make subject-to-sale conditions a natural part of how deals get done.

This is also why both buyers and sellers benefit from working with someone who understands the entire South Okanagan market — not just one town, not just one property type. When you can assess whether a buyer's Summerland home is realistically priced compared to current sales, or whether an Oliver acreage will move quickly at its current list price, you can make much more informed decisions about the offers in front of you.

We're also seeing more of this because affordability still matters, even with rates lower than they were at the peak. Buyers are more payment-sensitive. Many want to know exactly what they're working with before they commit to the next purchase. Selling first — or at least having a sale lined up — provides clarity, reduces risk, and lowers stress. That's not hesitation. That's discipline.

The South Okanagan market right now rewards good planning more than blind aggressiveness. For sellers, the right response to a subject-to-sale offer is not fear — it's evaluation. For buyers, the right response is not apology — it's preparation. And for both sides, the advantage goes to the person with the clearest strategy.

If you're planning a move anywhere in the South Okanagan — whether you're buying first, selling first, or trying to coordinate both — take a breath. This market rewards patience and preparation far more than it rewards panic. The deals are still happening. They're just being structured a little differently than they were three or four years ago.

Understanding the tools available to you — including how subject-to-sale conditions and kick-out clauses actually work — puts you in a position to make smarter decisions on both sides of a transaction.

If you'd like to talk through your specific situation, I'm always happy to have that conversation without pressure and without obligation. Just reach out and we'll figure out where you stand.

Riccardo Manazza

South Okanagan REALTOR® with eXp Realty

Licence RE603392 · My Property Central Real Estate Group

📞 (236) 457-4230  |  ✉️ riccardo.manazza@exprealty.com

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