I get asked a version of the same question a lot: "Where should I actually be looking if I want a condo near UBCO?"
More often than not, the answer is Academy Way. Ownacademyway.com
If you're not familiar with it, Academy Way is the stretch running through Kelowna's University District, right alongside UBC Okanagan. Nine strata buildings sit on this one street — Academy Hill, U One through U Eight, and Academy Ridge townhomes — built between 2014 and 2020, plus a couple of purpose-built rental buildings (Veda, Ivy Walk & Ivy Hall) that round out the corridor.
Why it keeps coming up:
- It's the closest walkable housing to campus. UBCO's enrolment has grown steadily since it opened, and there's a hard limit on how much land right next to a university can hold. That scarcity is the whole investment thesis in one sentence.
- Vacancy is consistently low. The academic year creates a predictable September leasing cycle, and the tenant pool skews toward upper-year students, grad students, and university staff — more stable than a typical first-year rental.
- Price points span a wide range. Studios and one-bedrooms start in the $350–450K range; larger 2-3 bedroom units and townhomes go well beyond that. There's an entry point for a lot of different buyers here — first-time investors, parents buying for a kid at UBCO instead of paying four years of rent, and long-term hold investors alike.
The catch is that these nine buildings aren't interchangeable — strata fees, rental bylaws, unit mix, and build quality vary meaningfully building to building, and getting that wrong is an expensive mistake.
That's actually why I built OwnAcademyWay.com (https://ownacademyway.com) — a dedicated resource that breaks down every single building on the street individually, with live MLS listings pulled directly from CREA's data feed, so you're seeing real current inventory, not stale listings. If Academy Way is on your radar at all, it's worth a look before you start touring units.
And if you're weighing Academy Way against other parts of Kelowna, or just want a second opinion on a specific building or unit — that's what I'm here for. Reach out anytime.