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West Coast developers regularly
target Alberta real estate buyers through
splashy newspaper and TV ads as well as glitzy
brochures.
There's no mystery why. Thousands
of Albertans dream of retiring one day to the
mild climes of places like Victoria, Kelowna or
Parksville. And with Alberta's economy booming,
many have the bucks to do so.
In particular areas of B.C. --
notably the Okanagan, the Salmon Arm area near
Shuswap Lake, and the Kootenays -- Alberta
buyers exert a big influence on the local
market. Many pay for their properties in cash.
But it's also clear that
Albertans are not the primary drivers behind
B.C.'s lofty real estate prices -- despite
recent headlines to the contrary.
Based on data compiled by
Landcor, a B.C. real estate research firm,
Albertans accounted for just 2.4 per cent of the
$48.5-billion worth of residential real estate
sold in B.C. last year, and just 2.6 per cent of
the total number of units sold.
The biggest buyers by far? B.C.
residents themselves. They accounted for $45.8
billion or 94.4 per cent of all residential real
estate purchases in B.C. last year, says Landcor
president Rudy Nielsen, who also operates NIHO
Land and Cattle Co., a New Westminster,
B.C.-based real estate firm.
"We broke it down into four
categories, including detached homes, condos,
vacant -- meaning vacant residential land, not
ranches or industrial -- and 'other', which is
townhouses, stuff like that," says Nielsen.
"Those four (categories) combined
came to 166,254 units sold last year, for a
total amount of $48,529,940 in sales. And out of
that, Washington (accounted for) 352 units or
$146 million; Ontario was 821 units, for $294
million; and California was 624 units, for $239
million."
And what about Alberta? "Alberta
came in with 4,320 units for a total of $1.156
billion," says Nielsen. "So Albertans are the
biggest buyers -- other than British Columbians
themselves -- of land in B.C."
Still, Alberta's relatively
modest contribution to B.C.'s real estate boom
wouldn't seem to square with recent press
coverage in Vancouver, where a Vancouver Sun
story suggested Albertans are driving up B.C.'s
real estate prices.
"Albertans love British
Columbia's waterfront cabins, ski chalets and
resort condominiums. And with oil wealth filling
their coffers, our neighbours went on a real
estate shopping spree in 2005," the Sun
reported. Although the Sun piece noted that
Albertans bought more B.C. real estate than
Ontario, California and Washington state
combined in 2005, it failed to mention that
Alberta's slice of the overall pie is still
small.
Nielsen says he's not surprised
that B.C. residents still account for the lion's
share of all the real estate buying activity in
B.C. "In all my speeches for years I've been
saying the biggest buyers of recreational and
small-town properties (in B.C.) are people from
the Lower Mainland," he says.
"And that applies to (purchases
of) Lower Mainland properties as well."
So why is there such persistent
talk on the West Coast that out-of-province
buyers are pushing up B.C.'s real estate prices?
"I guess it's (just) people
talking and saying Americans are buying up the
province and Albertans are buying up the
province," says Nielsen.
"I think it's more that the local
people get excited and they start buying.
"I think that's really what's
happening. So it (foreign buying) is not as
serious as everybody thinks it is." |
