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If you had bought a lakefront lot on Lake
Windermere five years ago for $300,000 you could
sell it for $1.3 million today. And lakefront in
the Kootenays is not the only sterling
investment in what has become the new RRSP for
wily investors looking towards retirement:
British Columbia recreational real estate.
Oceanfront cottages in the Gulf Islands have
doubled in price in the past two years, and, if
you are looking for a waterfront cabin in the
Okanagan or the Sunshine Coast, prepare to dish
out $500,000 and call for renovations.
We know it looks nuts, but that is the
reality when world-wide demand for secure and
beautiful recreational real estate meets a
shortage of listings.
There are 1,170,000 land titles in all of
British Columbia, but only 100,000 are privately
owned recreational properties, according to
Rudy Nielsen, president of Landcor Data
Corp., which has the most extensive real
estate data base in the province. As Nielsen
told the Jurock Land Rush Conference in
April, "everyone is looking for a vacation
cottage. I have never seen the recreational real
estate market like this. It is unbelievable
right now in British Columbia."
Unbelievable but understandable. As you will
see in our Recreational Real Estate Report
in this issue, there is a land rush, and it is
heading into rural British Columbia.
"Purchasers come from the Alberta, central
Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia,"
said Wade Webb. manager of Royal
LePage Kelowna. International buyers, he
said, think B.C. offers bargain-basement
waterfront. He has a point. In Washington state,
nearly any lakefront lot is over $1 million. In
Hawaii, think $10 million for oceanfront. And
Hawaii doesn't have skiing.
The phenomenal demand for recreational real
estate is seen right across B.C. and in western
Alberta. At Uclulelet, one waterfront developer
is trying not to pre-see his unfinished condos-
because prices are rising so fast- but buyers
keep showing up with cash offers on the
unfinished homes.
In Tofino, developers are lined up to build
more condos as U.S. and U.K. buyers come
knocking.
Resort condominium in Sun Peaks, Big White,
and even Nanaimo are pre-selling for $300 a
square foot. Waterfront cottages are now sold as
quarter-shares for $100,000 a share.
Less than 10 per cent of Canadians now own a
vacation cottage, but with new financing
available that allows purchases with nearly
nothing down, the market is ready to explode.
According to one survey, five per cent of
Canadian households plan to buy a vacation home
within the next three years. Want to assure your
retirement? Rush out right now and buy a cottage
nearly anywhere in B.C. |
