Photo: Third Home
The price of recreational properties across the province and the country went up this year, but in the Okanagan Valley, prices jumped at an extraordinary rate.
Royal LePage released its 2017 Canadian Recreational Housing Report this week, and the report shows a spike in the price of second homes and vacation properties across the province.
In British Columbia, “recreational properties” (essentially any second home or vacation home that’s not occupied year round) cost more than in any other province, except Alberta.
By May of 2017, The average price of recreational homes in Canada was $439,000. British Columbia’s recreational homes, meanwhile, sold for an average of $595,077.
In Alberta, which has the most expensive recreational homes, the average price was $816,700. In New Brunswick the average was $179,500.
The Royal LePage report says demand stemming from Greater Vancouver’s residential housing market has influenced pricing and sales in many of the province’s recreational markets, like the Okanagan Valley, as prospective buyers elect to capitalize on their home’s equity in search of a leisurely lifestyle.
That phenomenon is part of why Kelowna real estate agent Mark Walker says recreational property prices in the Okanagan are going up at a staggering pace.
Walker says the price of Lakefront resort properties in Kelowna has jumped by a “minimum of 10 per cent” in just the last three months.
Just like in the rest of the province, Walker says a shrinking inventory of recreational homes on the market is driving up prices here in the Okanagan.
“What we’re experiencing here is inventory becoming a real issue here now—everything is just popping off the shelves,” he says.
Walker says most any property not listed way above its value is selling within 30-60 days, with the majority of them going much quicker than that.
While shrinking inventory is a big part of that, Walker says the Okanagan continues to be a very desirable place for people looking for a vacation home, which he believes will only continue to drive up prices in the future.
Walker says another interesting contributor to skyrocketing recreation home prices in the region is parents who are buying condos for their kids attending university.
They let their children stay there for the duration of their degree, with the intention of selling the property once their kids move on.
The Royal Lepage report says foreign ownership in British Columbia accounted for less than 10 per cent of recreational property sales, but Walker says the Okanagan remains even more insulated from foreigners than major centres like Vancouver and Victoria.
Most people buying here, he says, are still coming from within the region. Those coming from outside hail mostly from the Lower Mainland and Alberta. Data from the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board supports his assertion.
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