AREA GUIDE · CENTRAL OKANAGAN

Ellison: farm country with a Kelowna address and none of Kelowna’s rules

Ellison is the rural area east of Kelowna International Airport: hobby farms, horse properties, orchards and homes on land between the airport and the hills, most of them with a Kelowna mailing address. It is not in the City of Kelowna. It’s unincorporated land under the Regional District of Central Okanagan, and that one fact changes who writes the zoning, who issues the permits and what you can build. It also shows the lowest detached median of any area I track, which needs explaining before anyone reads it as a bargain. Here’s the record, and what I’d tell you at the table.

Ellison by the numbers

Every figure below is a median of single family detached sales recorded on the Association of Interior REALTORS® MLS® System, as of September 2026, covering sales through August. Read this one carefully. The board files true acreages as a separate property type, and my data leaves them out everywhere, so in Ellison, where land is the whole character of the place, the median describes the smaller set of detached homes on ordinary lots, not the farms.

Two things in that table matter more than the rest.

The lowest median I track, and it isn’t the land. So far this year the median is $725,000, about 23% under the Central Okanagan and the lowest of the nineteen areas I track. In 2016 it sat about 21% under. That figure is the homes here that aren’t filed as acreage; the hobby farms and estates that people picture when they say Ellison sell in a different category, at different money. If it’s land you’re after, I pull those sales separately and we price from them.

Rising with the region, a step behind. Ten years took the median up 67% against the region’s 71%. It peaked at $786,000 in 2022, held near $750,000 through 2024 and 2025, and sits at $725,000 on 24 sales so far this year. Twenty to sixty sales a year is workable, but every one of them is a different house on a different piece of ground, so read the median as the middle of a very wide spread.

Where it is, and who governs it

The Regional District describes Ellison as the land east of the airport and the City boundary, north of Kelowna, running to Lake Country at its north end. On the ground, it starts around Old Vernon Road and Highway 97 and runs east into the hills. The name is Price Ellison’s, who came to the Okanagan in the 1870s and went on to be an MLA and a provincial cabinet minister. Ellison Provincial Park is near Vernon, not here, whatever a listing says.

Ellison is part of the Regional District’s Central Okanagan East Electoral Area, and the Regional District, not the City, is the local government. Zoning is under RDCO Zoning Bylaw No. 871. Land use is under the Ellison Official Community Plan, Bylaw No. 1124. Building permits come from the Regional District. The City of Kelowna, and Lake Country near its edge, get a say on changes close to their boundaries, but the decision is the Regional District’s.

So the City of Kelowna rules you may have read about, the 2024 pre-zoning for three to six units on a lot, the City’s urban centre plans, don’t describe Ellison. If someone quotes them to you about a property here, that’s your cue to call the Regional District’s planning office before you rely on it.

The neighbours are the airport, a few minutes away, and the parks. Mill Creek Regional Park is in Ellison, with trails along the creek, and Robert Lake Regional Park is close by to the southwest. Ellison Elementary, on Parkdale Road, is the local school; for middle and secondary, check the exact address on School District 23’s catchment map.

What the homes are like

Land is the character of Ellison: hobby farms, horse properties, orchards and vineyards, and estate homes with room around them, plus a smaller number of houses on ordinary lots. Very little of it is strata. What sells a property here is the land, the outbuildings, the water and what the zoning lets you do, far more than the finishes.

Four things to check on any of them. First, the water: private wells and septic are common, and parts of the broader area were served by the Glenmore-Ellison Improvement District, which became part of the City of Kelowna’s water utility on 1 January 2025. Which one serves a property is the first question I’d ask, and a well needs a flow test and a water quality test before subject removal. Second, the Agricultural Land Reserve: whether a parcel is in it is a lookup on the Agricultural Land Commission’s map, and it changes what you can build, add and subdivide. Third, fire: the Ellison plan includes a wildfire development permit area, so building or clearing on some parcels needs a permit that accounts for it, and FireSmart work matters to insurers out here. Fourth, the airport: go and stand on the property when planes are coming in, and ask the Regional District whether any airport-related rules apply to that parcel.

Buying here: what I’d tell you at the table

Selling here: what actually works

Market to the right buyer. An Ellison property usually has one of two buyers: someone who wants land and a lifestyle, or someone who wants a house near the airport and the university. The listing has to know which one it’s talking to.

Have the Regional District answers ready. Zoning, what’s permitted on the parcel, any permits on the outbuildings, the water source and the septic records. A buyer who has to chase those discounts for the uncertainty.

Price land against land. The median on this page won’t price an acreage. The right comparables are other rural parcels with similar land, water and zoning, and I pull those separately.

Show it from the air. On a property whose value is the land, aerial photography of the parcel, the outbuildings and the view does more than any room shot.

Questions people ask about Ellison

Is Ellison part of Kelowna?

No. Ellison has a Kelowna mailing address and sits right beside the city, but it’s unincorporated land in the Regional District of Central Okanagan’s Central Okanagan East Electoral Area. The Regional District handles its zoning, building permits and community plan.

Who do I talk to about building or subdividing in Ellison?

The Regional District of Central Okanagan’s planning department, not the City of Kelowna. Zoning is under RDCO Zoning Bylaw No. 871 and land use under the Ellison Official Community Plan, Bylaw No. 1124. If the parcel is in the Agricultural Land Reserve, the Agricultural Land Commission’s rules apply as well.

Why is the Ellison median lower than the rest of Kelowna?

Because it counts the wrong thing for Ellison. The board files acreages as a separate property type and my data leaves them out, so the Ellison median describes the smaller set of homes on ordinary lots, not the farms and estates the area is known for. Land here sells in its own category, and I price it from those sales.

Is Ellison a good place to live?

If you want land, a quieter life and the airport and UBC Okanagan a few minutes away, it does that better than almost anywhere around Kelowna. The trade is well and septic ownership, rules that come from the Regional District rather than the City, aircraft overhead on some properties, and fire season on the rural edge.

What is my Ellison property worth?

It depends which market it’s in. A house on an ordinary lot prices off the detached sales on this page. A property with real acreage prices off rural land sales, where the water, the zoning, the ALR status and the outbuildings move the number far more than the house does. Send me the address and I’ll tell you which comparables apply and what I’d list it at.

Who should I call about Ellison?

I’m Braden Koop, a REALTOR® with REMAX Kelowna (licence 191956). Ellison is one of the nineteen areas I track every month, and on a rural property I’ll bring the land comparables the median leaves out, the water and septic checks, and six years as an HVAC technician when we walk the house and the outbuildings. Call or text 250-801-8725, or send the address through the contact page.

Go deeper

Every area I work is on the neighbourhoods map, with these figures side by side.

Market figures on this page are medians of single family detached sales recorded on the Association of Interior REALTORS® MLS® System for the Ellison sub-area and the Central Okanagan, pulled September 2026 and covering January through August 2026 for the current year. NOTE: this representation is based in whole or in part on data generated by the Association of Interior REALTORS®, which assume no responsibility for its accuracy. Properties the board files as acreage are a separate type and are not included, which matters more in Ellison than almost anywhere. The figures describe the market, not any one home. Jurisdiction, bylaw, park, school, water and fire facts are drawn from the Regional District of Central Okanagan, the Province, the school district and public reporting, and were current as of September 2026. Braden Koop Personal Real Estate Corporation operates under REMAX Kelowna. Each REMAX office is independently owned and operated.