Waterfront home prices fall in B.C. with falling demand
By
|
23/01/2011 5:33:00 PM
|
0
comments
Demand has dropped off for high-end rural waterfront homes in B.C., according to a report in the Vancouver Sun.
Whereas most high-end properties in Metro Vancouver have rebounded over the past year, the demand specifically for the rural area properties of the province has remained down.
A real estate agency owner told the Vancouver Sun that a restored character house on an acre of Denman Island first listed for $1.5 million in 2007, but recently sold for $665,000. Similarly, a Courtenay waterfront property once listed for $1.2 million is now listed at $789,000.
Part of the reason for the drop in prices, according to the article, is that many investors in the area have been buying properties in the U.S. Many Canadian buyers have been taking advantage of low real estate prices south of the border as foreclosures continue to flood onto the market following the worst financial collapse in American history since the Great Depression. But the downward price trend in that sector of the market is not expected to continue this year.
Real estate buyers in B.C. might also soon see a drawback as the province’s land title and survey workers voted to go on strike as of Jan. 21. Some 116 members of the B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union work at the provincial Land Title and Survey Authority that voted for the strike if necessary to win a fair contract. The union representative Oliver Rohlfs told News1130 that the workers were the backbone of the real estate business.