Lower prices a possibility, but no ‘fire sales’
Province
New listings have yet to put downward pressure on property prices. Province file photo
OTTAWA — The recreational-property market, roiled for years, is returning to more balanced conditions as supply increases and buyers fret over economic concerns and higher prices, Re/Max said yesterday.
B.C. seems to have bucked the trend, but the realty firm said it found a “substantial increase” in the supply of recreational properties listed for sale in Canada, as 91 per cent of the areas it surveys were moving from being sellers’ markets to something more favourable to buyers.
Affordability is a factor, Re/Max said, following upward pressure on prices in recent years. Rising energy costs and a slower economy have also dampened demand.
As a result, “67 per cent of markets reported softening in the number of sales year-to-date,” Re/Max said, blaming part of that on tough winter conditions in the first four months of the year.
“Over the last decade or so we have seen across-the-board double-digit price increases for recreational properties,” said Re/Max spokeswoman Christine Martysiewicz, crediting the prosperity of boomers and the longest expansion since the Second World War for that boom.
Yet while the market has shifted, “don’t expect to see bargain-basement prices or fire sales,” said Re/Max executive vice-president Michael Polzler.
“The influx of new listings has yet to translate into downward pressure on recreational property prices,” Polzler said.
The market’s rebalancing hasn’t dented property values in the northern Vancouver Island community of Tofino where the starting price for a three-bedroom winterized recreation property is $2 million, the highest price in Canada.
Recreation property inventories are low on Saltspring Island, where the starting price for a three-bedroom, winterized home on ocean frontage is $1.3 million.
Alberta‘s oil-fuelled prosperity has helped drive up prices in B.C., Atlantic Canada and parts of Ontario, Re/Max said.
Still, for the first time in many years, a good selection of entry-level waterfront is available across Canada, Re/Max said. Central South Cariboo is among the markets with such properties under $200,000.
As well as baby boomers, the next cohort of young people known as Generation X is becoming a force in the market, Re/Max said.
Falling prices in the U.S. and the high Canadian dollar have lured buyers to that market, Re/Max said
“Some of those very same factors have spurred American recreational property owners in Canada to list their properties for sale,” it said.
© The Vancouver Province 2008
