Windermere Lake ranked as most expensive in Canada

Derrick Penner
Sun

In the market for a waterfront cabin on Windermere Lake? It will set you back about $2.5 million, if you can find one, according to Re/Max Realty’s latest recreational property report, which makes the east Kootenays resort spot the most expensive recreational property in Canada.

The catch, added Invermere realtor Wende Brash, is that lakefront is extremely rare — maybe two or three 50- to 75-foot lots will sell in a year.

And typical buyers are wealthy Calgarians who immediately tear down the old cabins to put up palatial, year-round lakefront houses with spectacular mountain views that are a mere three-hour drive from the rat-race part of their lives.

“If I had something on the market with a lovely home on it, I’m scared to think of what it might go for,” Brash said.

For the most part, “prices have squeezed out the majority of locals, leaving ownership in this sought-after retreat to affluent out-of-towners.”

Inside the town of Invermere, prices recently hit an average $377,000, up 26 per cent from a year ago. And with the amount of high-priced development going on, Invermere Mayor Mark Shmigelsky added that the community is working on creating a local housing authority to build non-market housing for locals.

Shmigelsky said the communities around Windermere Lake, such as Panorama and Radium Hot Springs, are in varying degrees of the same situation.

Elton Ash, Re/Max’s executive vice-president for Western Canada, added that all of B.C.’s high-profile recreation spots are undergoing a transformation that is being fuelled by the wealth of leading-edge baby boomers, as well as a pre-inheritance transfer of wealth from their parents’ generation.

The result is that weekend cabins on Lake Okanagan “have been non-existent for a number of years.”

There, a lakefront home will run $2 million, Ash said, and the buyers who are in that market are the same ones in the market for a $1.1-million off-mountain house in Whistler, or a $1.5-million oceanfront home on Salt Spring Island.

The Re/Max report noted that condos around Whistler can be had for as little as $130,000, but the average price is $570,000. Whistler houses, however, average $1.25 million.

Even Mount Washington in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island (easily accessible by Albertans via direct flights from Calgary and Edmonton) has experienced 17-per-cent price gains over 2006.

The Mount Washington average price hit $275,000. However, Comox-Valley waterfront prices of $850,000 to $900,000 are common, and prices over $1 million aren’t unheard of.

Ash added that even Harrison Lake, thought a bit too far away as a getaway for many just a few years ago, has seen 30-per-cent price gains from a year ago, with a three-bedroom, waterfront home on standard lot starting at $250,000.

“So prices are increasing, and becoming less affordable for a large segment of the population,” Ash said.

Rudy Nielsen, a recreational realtor and developer with NIHO Land and Cattle Co., said recreation seekers will have to make property ownership a bigger family affair.

“You’ve got to use your imagination,” Nielsen said. “I’d bring in your mom and dad, sister, cousins. Buy one title altogether.”

RECREATION LUXE

Want a waterfront cabin in B.C.? Be prepared to pay, or be prepared to travel as the province boasts some of the highest prices for recreational property in Canada. Here are the market starting prices for a three-bedroom, year-round recreational property.

$2.5 million: Invermere

$2 million: Kelowna

$1.5 million: Saltspring Island

$1.1 million: Whistler*

$900,000: North Okanagan/Shuswap

$800,000: Cultus & Harrison Lakes

$800,000: Mount Washington

$275,000: 100 Mile House/Central South Cariboo

* Three-bedroom, winterized, non-waterfront, off-mountain home.

Source: Re/Max Realty, Vancouver Sun

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

Baby boomers behind recreational-property boom

Frank Luba
Province

Lots of baby boomers have lots of money and they’re buying lots of recreational property for, you guessed it, lots more money.

That’s the bottom line in the 2007 RE/MAX Recreational Property Report issued yesterday.

The realty company surveyed 39 markets from Newfoundland to B.C. and found starting recreational prices topping $500,000 in 31 of those locales.

Just seven of the markets surveyed had waterfront property available for less than $250,000.

Upper-end sales are affecting recreational-property values across the board, particularly in Western Canada. The driving force in the boom are the boomers, that segment of the population born between 1946 and 1965.

According to the report, the boomers represent one-third of Canada’s population and control about 45 per cent of the nation’s wealth.

They have $230 billion in real-estate assets and a net worth of $530 billion.

They also appear to be looking for somewhere nice for a little recreation and have made B.C., Alberta and Ontario the most expensive markets in the country.

In Invermere, which tops the RE/MAX list, the starting price for a three-bedroom, winterized recreational property on a standard-sized waterfront lot is $2.5 million.

That level of luxury in Kelowna costs $2 million, with Salt Spring Island next at $1.2 million and Whistler at $1.1 million — although that will only get you a three-bedroom winterized home off the mountain.

Sylvan Lake in Alberta and Penticton are next on the list at $1 million.

It’s not all high prices, of course, because Royal LePage put out a report yesterday that revealed 10 “hidden gems” where waterfront cottage properties can be found for $250,000 or less.

Like RE/MAX, Royal LePage indicates the East Coast offers the most options for the least money.

At George’s Lake, a 20-minute drive from Cornerbrook, Nfld., a 50-year-old, seasonal waterfront cottage can be had for $75,000 to $90,000.

Of more use to British Columbians is the Stack Lakes area near Bridge Lake in the South Cariboo. Year-round recreational cottages are available there on two-hectare to four-hectare lots for $200,000 to $250,000.

Recreational prices may be high but there are still plenty of opportunities, according to Elton Ash of RE/MAX.

“The key is to be patient,” said Ash, regional director of the company in Western Canada. “Be willing to take the time to look around.

“B.C. is a huge province and there are opportunities and the chance to own a getaway at an affordable and reasonable price,” he said.

Veteran recreational property expert Rudy Nielsen of the NIHO Land and Cattle Company suggests Lower Mainlanders consider something like a quarter-share in a unit at a resort on Gabriola Island, which you can even get to as a foot passenger.

The cost would be $150,000 to $200,000.

“They just aren’t making any more land,” said Nielsen. “Waterfront is getting very, very dear and very expensive.”

Get the right property, he said, because “10 years from now you’re going to double your money.”

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TIPS FROM ROYAL LEPAGE

– Define your needs (e.g. seasonal or year-round) and determine if a property satisfies those needs.

– To really understand an area, vacation there first.

– Learn about water systems (e.g. septic tanks, wells, holding tanks).

– Find out about covenants and fees.

– Determine proximity to amenities (e.g. hospitals and grocery stores).

– Are you a north shore or south shore person? Do you want a sunrise or a sunset?

– Hire a professional home inspector to check such details as foundation.

– Look at the local bylaws with respect to building and permits.

– Spring and summer are good times to buy because you can check out the quality of the shoreline and water but you will pay top dollar. You’re likely to get a better price in the fall or winter. With ski-resort sites, the situation is opposite.

 

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

David Carrigg
Province

The world’s highflyers and glamour crowd are scoping out homes in Vancouver’s soon-to-be renovated Hotel Georgia, according to development spokesman Bruce Langereis.

Langereis revealed today that the top tier of Sotheby’s International Realty advisers and property scouts will fly in next month for an exclusive preview of The Private Residences at Hotel Georgia and a 48-storey residential tower to be built alongside the hotel.

He said the property scouts have several high-profile clients including Jennifer Lopez, Barbra Streisand and Arab princes.

“There’s no doubt that Vancouver’s high-end real estate is now garnering serious international attention,” he said.  

Planners consider proposals for 2,400 units in largely rural area

Michael Kane
Sun

Developers are lining up with more than $1.5 billion worth of multi-family housing projects for a planned community of 5,400 people in south Surrey’s Morgan Heights.

In a mostly rural area of $1-million homes on one-acre lots, planners are considering proposals for 2,400 units ranging from one-bedroom condos to luxury townhouses and single-family homes, to be built over the next three years.

Housing could be joined by a 400,000-sq.-ft. upscale shopping area — similar to West Vancouver’s Village at Park Royal — and “tamed” big-box stores such as Wal-Mart, Surrey planner Nicholas Lai said in a release.

Citing restricted surface parking and high standards of design and architecture, Lai said: “You will probably see the most beautiful, well-designed Wal-Mart in the whole of the Lower Mainland.”

Other stores in the mix include Home Depot and Real Canadian Superstore.

“Over the years there has been quite a pent-up demand in south Surrey for commercial and multi-family development,” Laid said. “That’s why you have got a development of this magnitude in a relatively short period of time. But it will be development on a human scale.”

Morgan Heights straddles about 79 hectares (196 acres) bounded by the Highway 99 corridor to the west, 28th Avenue to the south, and 164th Street to the east.

The first residential phase of 121 units at the Morgan, a $100-million condo development in two buildings at 26th Avenue and 160th Street, sold out in advance of the official opening, Richard Wittstock, vice-president of Amacon, said Monday. The second phase will be released May 12, four months ahead of schedule.

Wittstock said what excites city planners and community groups — the Neighbourhood Community Plan received 79 per cent support at a public hearing — is the concept of sustainable living with medium and high density housing within walking distance of shops and services.

“It’s going to be a very vibrant community where people can live and walk to their shopping and all of their services without having to jump in the car for a quart of milk,” Wittstock said in an interview.

Larco Investments, owner of West Vancouver’s Park Royal Shopping Centre, has applied to build a “lifestyle village” on about 11 hectares (28 acres) at Highway 99 and 24th Avenue.

“What excites us is that there are lots of million-dollar homes here, yet it is the fastest-growing area of Surrey,” Larco development director Art Phillips said in a release. “If you look at the demographics, the opportunities for a lifestyle village similar to the one at Park Royal are very strong.”

Larco is also building 457 residential units. Other developers at Morgan Heights include Intracorp (464 units), Polygon (327 units), and Pacific Rim (120 units). In addition, nearby land is being parcelled into about 500 lots for single-family housing.

While Morgan Heights is about sustainability — getting people out of their cars and reducing carbon dioxide emissions — Lai said it is also about affordability.

“This is the first time in this beautiful area of south Surrey where young people starting out, or families, or retired couples, can afford to buy.”

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High density the new destiny for south Surrey

This model shows The Morgan, a residential component of the huge development planned for south Surrey’s Morgan Heights. The Morgan, a $100-million development by Amacon, will feature 242 apartments within two four-storey buildings.

Morgan Heights by the numbers

$1.5 billion Overall cost of development

5,400 People expected to live in the planned community

2,400 Residential units planned

3 years Time frame for construction

Developers involved: Amacon, Intracorp, Larco, Polygon, Pacific Rim

© The Vancouver Sun 2007