BC’s Recreational Property Market Buoyed by Ripple Effect
Sales and prices for recreational properties are up across BC, with overseas demand remaining steady
The hot housing market in Greater Vancouver is spilling over into the BC-wide recreational property market, according to the 2017 Royal LePage Canadian Recreational Housing Report published June 20.
The aggregate price of a recreational home in BC has risen to $595,077, as slower sales at the start of the year turned into a flurry of sales activity, said the nationwide brokerage.
The report said, “In many areas, months of pent up demand have been unleashed onto the market, propelling sales activity higher. This trend will likely continue for the remainder of the year.”
The Royal LePage report authors added, “Demand stemming from Greater Vancouver’s residential housing market has increasingly influenced pricing and sales in many of the province’s recreational markets, as prospective buyers elect to capitalize on their home’s equity in search of a leisurely lifestyle.”
Gulf Islands and Okanagan Heat Up
This ripple effect is extending further than it has in previous years, with areas such as the Fraser Valley having already seen significant price rises. In turn this is leading buyers of recreational property to look to traditionally lower-priced areas such as the Gulf Islands.
“As price appreciation across Greater Vancouver resumes its previous pace from a year ago, and homeowners accumulate more wealth, many prospective buyers have decided to forgo upsizing within the highly competitive Vancouver marketplace, electing to instead push outwards in search of a recreational property,” said Jim Morris, manager, Western Canada, Royal LePage.
“Now, with the Fraser Valley feeling the heat, prospective purchasers are turning to the islands for relatively more affordable recreational properties, accelerating market demand within these regions.”
Agents in the islands seemed to agree with this assessment. “Recreational sales activity has increased significantly on the Gulf Islands,” confirmed Janet M. Moore, real estate sales agent, Royal LePage Nanaimo Realty. “We have finally seen the return of buyers to smaller regions within the Gulf Islands, driven by both interest in recreational activities and retirement.”
The Okanagan, however, remains arguably the most desirable region in which to buy a recreational home.
“The Okanagan Valley is still one of the most sought-after places to buy property in Canada, and we have seen two years of steady upward price movement,” said Mark J. Walker, sales representative, Royal LePage Kelowna. “We sit between an improving Alberta economy and what many consider an overheated market in Vancouver. Consumer confidence in our region continues to grow, but the supply of recreational properties has decreased significantly this year, as sellers are willing to wait in a rising-price environment.”
No Fall in Foreign Buyers
Royal LePage reported that its agents and advisors said foreign buyers accounted for less than 10% of all recreational property sales.
This percentage is similar to one year ago, despite the foreign buyer tax being introduced in late summer 2016. The brokerage added that 60% of agents surveyed for the report believed that the number of US buyers in their recreational markets had risen over the past year.
“British Columbia will never go out of style as a recreational destination, with our mountains, our coastline and our West Coast lifestyle,” added Morris. “Together, the softening of the foreign-buyer tax rules, the persistently low Canadian dollar and the introduction of a similar tax in Ontario are encouraging the return of buyers from outside of the country.”
Read the full Royal LePage recreational property reports: BC only or Canada-wide.
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