Susan Lazaruk
The Vancouver Sun
A surge in sales of recreational properties in British Columbia over the past year was fuelled in some areas by buyers in their mid-30s to late 40s, and not older baby boomers, according to a new report by Royal LePage.
Across Canada, Generation X buyers outnumbered baby boomers two to one, said Royal LePage in a release announcing the report.
The annual report was compiled from data from real estate agents specializing in recreational properties.
The typical buyer in the Central Vancouver Island region, including Parksville and Qualicum, as well as in Cranbrook and Kimberley, was the “Gen Xer in the 36 to 51 age range,” according to the report.
The average price for a lakefront property on the Island was $380,000, and $800,000 in Cranbrook and Kimberley, it said. A condo or non-waterfront cabin was going for $200,000, and a riverside place $300,000. Kimberley is a 10.5-hour drive from Vancouver.
The pricier areas, such as the Sunshine Coast, where an oceanfront property was fetching on average $800,000, and the Gulf Islands ($500,000 for oceanfront on islands without a ferry, $1 million for those with), were popular with baby boomer buyers.
Also popular with older buyers was the least expensive area, around 100 Mile House, a 5.5-hour trip from Vancouver, where a lakefront was selling for about $320,000.
The Sunshine Coast was attracting interest from foreign buyers and “buyers whose kids have been priced out of the Vancouver market,” it said.
Kelowna, with the priciest average waterfront prices of $1.6 million, was attracting “couples with young children” intending to rent out the properties, said Royal LePage.
Non-waterfront cabins in the Kelowna area were selling for $450,000 and condos for $350,000, according to the report.
“We’re seeing multiple offers on properties for the first time in six years,” said Mark Walker, a Kelowna Royal LePage real estate agent.
He said the market was depressed for the six years after the 2008 global economic crash.
Royal LePage said the average buyer who responded to its surveys were a couple with children, at 76 per cent; 63 per cent were between 36 and 51 and 33 per cent were between 52 and 70 years old.
Most said they were buying property for their retirement and 50 per cent said they were looking at the purchase as an investment.
The report said 10 per cent of buyers lived outside of Canada all or most of the time, and 80 per cent of those were from the U.S.
Royal LePage “expects sales activity to increase” through the year and identified “demand from retirees as a major factor driving the market.”
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