A whopping 72 per cent of households in Kelowna own their own home. That's the third most in the country behind only Cape Breton Island at 75 per cent and Calgary at 73 per cent.
The just-released statistics come from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation's annual Housing Observer report that tracks not just home ownership, but mortgages, age of homeowners, condominium share, age of housing stock and number of
people that can't afford housing.
The high percentage of home ownership in Kelowna is a bit surprising considering how people go on and on about how expensive and unaffordable a place to live in the city is.
The reality is the majority of people in Kelowna are able to afford the Canadian dream of owning their own home.
The flipside of 72 per cent home ownership is that 12 per cent of households can't afford to buy their own home.
The other 16 per cent is presumably those who rent, but could afford to buy if they wanted to.
The report also shows that in Kelowna, 44 per cent of homeowners own without mortgages.
The rest are still paying off mortgages.
Ten per cent of homeowners are under the age of 35, and 27 per cent of homeowners live in
condominiums.
Showing Kelowna's growth as a result of economic and housing booms in the last 30 years, the
percentage of housing stock built after 1980 stands at a high 55 per cent. Only 10 per cent of the city's housing stock was built prior to 1960.
The housing stock in an older city such as Montreal, for instance, is 46 per cent pre-1960 and 21 per cent post-1980.
Montreal also has a lower percentage of home ownership at 34.

Million-dollar real estate plan
Speaking of housing, Bert Chapman, the broker at Kelowna-based Premier Canadian Properties, outlined his million-dollar plan for real estate in his most recent newsletter.
Over the next four years, he recommends buying four two-bedroom condominiums at about $275,000 each.
Make sure you use a bank's money to make the purchases.
Get good tenants and have them pay your mortgages with the monthly rents.
In 15 years or so, you will own four condos outright and even if they didn't increase in value, you have assets worth $1.1 million.
You could sell and take a profit, but Chapman advises against that.
"Don't sell them. Just keep them," he said.
"Your cash flow will be over $100,000 a year."

High-speed access reaching rural areas
More remote areas in the Okanagan are getting access to high-speed Internet and cellular phone services thanks to the provincial government's Connectivity in B.C. initiative.
The goal, in conjunction with telecommunications giant Telus, is to have high-speed Internet and cellphone coverage accessible to 97 per cent of the population,
including cell coverage along highways and high-speed Internet in more schools.
In 2011 the percentage climbed to 93.
Connectivity evens the business, social and cultural playing field by allowing people to do everything from online banking, investing and taxes and running a company to social media to keep in touch and reliable Internet
access for education, information and entertainment.
"The work we're doing to connect B.C. means children, citizens and businesses will have better access to information and opportunities," said B.C. Minister of Labour Margaret MacDiarmid.
"This means real and significant benefits to rural communities. Our goal is to see every community in British Columbia connected with high-speed Internet in the next 10 years."

Culinary event to include music
Barenaked Ladies lead singer Ed Robertson and pop singer-songwriter Barney Bentall have been confirmed as the musical
entertainment for the finale of the Canadian Culinary Championships being held in Kelowna Feb. 11.
Nine chefs who won regional competitions will congregate in Kelowna over that weekend to vie for the title of best chef in Canada for 2012.
"With the addition of these two Canadian music icons to our host athletes - hometown sweetheart and world champion ski cross racer Kelsey Serwa and Olympic gold, silver and bronze medallist in kayaking Adam van Koeverden - the event promises to be filled with lots of excitement," added championships co-chair Don Shafer.
The culinary championships are a fundraiser for the Canadian Olympic Foundation. For more information on the event or for tickets, check GoldMedalPlates.com.
Steve MacNaull is a business reporter and columnist. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .