Rutland and the east

3 neighbourhoods on the east side of the city. Rutland was a separate district until amalgamation in 1973 and still has its own high street, its own recreation park and the strongest sense of somewhere-else in the city, as well as the cheapest housing in Kelowna and the youngest population. Black Mountain climbs the hillside above it into newer subdivisions with long views. Ellison, further north, is mostly farmland frozen out of development by the Agricultural Land Reserve since 1973, plus the airport, and it is the one neighbourhood here that straddles a municipal boundary: half of it is in the city and half in the Regional District's electoral area, which changes the tax bill, the water and sewer arrangements and who you call about a road.

Rutland carries a reputation in Kelowna that the numbers only partly support, and it is worth walking rather than inheriting: it is where the city's most affordable ownership is, where the 2040 plan directs a great deal of new mid-rise, and where the CMHC survey found the loosest rental market in the region at 7.5% vacancy on an average purpose-built rent of $1,888. It is also the largest neighbourhood in the city at 28,814 residents and the youngest of the established ones, at a median age of 39.2. Above it, the calculation changes completely. Black Mountain and Ellison are wildfire-interface addresses, and the FireSmart requirements, insurance quotes and evacuation history all deserve checking before the view does.