|
A lone adirondack chair sits at the end of a
dew-flecked wooden dock. An early morning mist
wafts over the lake, its feathery fingers
vanishing in the evergreen forest on the far
shore.
Got the picture?
It's the classic cottage scene, portrayed in
art, magazine ads, television commercials and
cottage shows with such regularity that it has
take on icon status.
There are variations on this North American
archetype. Sometimes there are two chairs. The
mist might be replaced with bright sunlight that
casts the scene in high resolution. The dock
might be splashed with lake water instead of
dew, and a rumpled towel might lie where it fell
atop the boards.
If there is a dog in the photo, it will be a
labrador retriever, usually yellow.
You have to leave the continent to realize
how richly North American this image is, how
entrenched it is in our culture as the ideal
summer vacation spot.
Call it the lake, the cottage, the cabin, the
camp, the beach -- by any name, it is rapidly
slipping out of the reach of average Canadians.
An aging and increasingly affluent
population, coupled with low borrowing rates,
has heated up the recreational property market
across Canada.
B.C. real estate boards do not offer
statistics on cottage sales, but a comparison of
the numbers in urban Victoria to the Gulf
Islands, where many Victorians holiday, suggests
that recreation properties are more than holding
their own in B.C.'s real estate market.
In 1994, the average price of Gulf Island
properties stood at $240,248, just a notch below
Victoria's house price average of $256,025. Ten
years later, the rural to urban ratio had
swapped places. In 2004, the average price of a
Gulf Island property came in at $447,249, while
Victoria's average home was lower at $386,045.
Statistics on raw land sales for recreational
property, calculated by (Rudy) Nielsen's
Landcor Data Corporation, reveal that on
Vancouver Island, sales increased to 1,722
properties in 2004 from 931 in 2003; the average
value increased to $124,941 from $108,717.
Saltspring Island realtor Tom Navratil has
kept detailed records on waterfront property
sales in his district since 1998. His figures
show waterfront property values on Saltspring
Island jumped almost 60 per cent from 2003 to
2004, with averages selling prices rising from
$706,028 to $1.1 million in that period. Even
median values, which are regarded as a more
reliable and conservative measure of housing
values, shows considerable growth. In 1998, the
median value on waterfront came in at $430,500.
By 2004, it had reached $775,000.
Ouch.
Port Alberni realtor Gabby Osborne points to
a cottage listing on Vancouver Island's Sproat
Lake with an asking price of $699,000, and says,
"That would have been $399,000 only a few years
ago."
The change in market values hits closer to
home for Osborne, who owns a land-locked lot at
Hornby Island. The lot cost $10,000 in 1983. It
was recently assessed at $167,000.
"It's worth as much as our house here,"
observes Osborne. "It's booming all over --
Parksville, Qualicum. It's just crazy."
The humble cottage is going upscale. Affluent
buyers are snapping up desirable properties,
bulldozing the existing cottage and replacing it
with a luxury home. Navratil is reluctant to
call these houses cottages, even though their
owners occupy them only through the summer
months.
"Some of these places are worth up to five
million dollars," says Navratil.
Most buyers are Vancouverites on the verge of
retirement, looking for revenue-generating
properties that they can rent out for a few
years before moving in and making it their
primary residence. And while the myth of the
well-heeled American buyer persists, Navratil
estimates they only represent about 20 per cent
of purchasers.
"A lot of them come up here, but then
discover that immigrating to Canada is not as
easy as they thought, especially in retirement
age," says Navratil. "A lot of those properties
end up back on the market as a result."
In the past, aspiring cottage-owners sought
out affordable properties by looking further
afield, following the general rule that the
longer the commute from urban centres, the lower
the price tag.
Those willing to hoof a three-hour drive plus
an hour-long boat-ride can buy a bare strata lot
for $47,000. But even at that distance, $47,000
will not buy beachfront.
Don't like a long commute? You can shave it
down to 45 minutes from Victoria for $600,000.
Those dollars will buy a lakefront property
complete with 1,200 square foot cottage.
Price pressures on recreational properties
are re-shaping rural communities in ways that
don't sit well with the locals. More cottage
buyers are looking for cottages with
mortgage-helper suites that can be rented out as
a bed and breakfast. Others rent out their
cottages on a weekly basis, creating turnstile
neighbourhoods.
Some communities are pushing back by
introducing by-laws that restrict rentals.
Blair Howard, owner of West Coast Vacations,
manages rental properties on Saltspring Island.
He says rentals for under 30 days are illegal,
but a moratorium on enforcement is in place
while the Islands Trust, a local governing body,
studies the issue.
"That was the last round of huffing and
puffing the island did," says Howard. "As a
result, things are carrying on just like they
have for the last 30 years."
John Gauld, regional planning manager for the
Islands Trust, which oversees the southern Gulf
Islands, says a new bylaw was passed in January
2005 that restricts use of property so that
occupancy must extend through six continuous
months each year. It's a ruling that may
preserve rural ambience, but threatens to drive
the rental market underground, creating the same
abundance of illegal suites and rentals that
pervades the year-round residential market in
cities. |
