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By Rudy Nielsen |
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What is the Golden Circle? It is the hottest
area for recreational real estate in Canada
right now. It is that area within a four hour
drive of Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton.
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Why only four? Well, four hours gives a working
family enough time to get into the car at 5 PM
on a Friday and arrive at the cabin at 9, and
will allow them to leave the area on Sunday
afternoon to come back to the city to work.
Anything over four hours becomes prohibitive,
especially if the family has kids. |
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Number of
Recreational Property Sales 2003/2004 - Courtesy
of
Landcor.com |
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Now, four hours from Vancouver include the
Kamloops, Princeton and Pemberton areas. This is
extremely expensive property because the amount
of property is very limited. Everyone in the
Lower Mainland wants property four hours from
Vancouver with lake or ocean frontage. These
types of property don’t come onto the market
very often- which is why, on our Landcor chart,
the number of sales for the Greater Vancouver
(including Sechelt and Squamish areas) and
Fraser Valley region are not very high. |
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However, when you look at the other half of the
golden circle- that is where you could be
picking up some real bargains. They may not be
four hours outside of Vancouver, but the
Albertan market is really picking up steam. Four
hours outside of Calgary includes the Kootenay
area- the Shuswap, Invermere and Revelstoke. If
you look at the Landcor chart, sale amounts are
just beginning to rise, and prices here are
still considerably less than Vancouver Island or
the Okanagan- B.C.’s traditional recreational
getaways. |
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Developers are beginning to sense this influx of
money coming in from the east. There has been a
major expansion of the Shuswap Lake Resorts in
the past year, and the approval of the Mount
Mackenzie/Powder Springs Resort is going to make
the Revelstoke area extremely hot when lots in
the area begin to be released later this year or
early next year. In addition, a traditional
getaway for Calgarians, Banff, was recently
closed to new developments- it reached the
Federal Government’s limit for building in a
National Park. Because of this, we expect the
Kootenay area to become very popular very
quickly. |
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But if you have the funds, and have the time
to access them, we also suggest the Gulf
Islands. The Landcor chart shows that the
area has remains the hottest area in the
province, and has been pulling away from its
nearest competitor, the Okanagan region in
both the number of sales and the total sale
amounts. Niho has not liked the Gulf Islands
in the past, as the ferry service to the
islands has been fairly restrictive, and
potential ferry line-ups has caused us to
take them out of the Golden Circle in the
past. However, the recent renovation to
Vancouver International Airport- especially
the South Terminal, has changed our minds.
The float plane services flying out of South
Terminal means that the Gulf Islands have
completely opened up. An executive can buy a
house with an oceanfront lot on one of the
islands, take a 20 minute commute to the
South Terminal, and be on a private jet to
anywhere in the world. |
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Why don’t you check out our selection of
property for your next dream home?
Click here to
see where you could be making your dreams come
true and owning your piece of beautiful British
Columbia! |
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Sales
Volumes of Recreational Property 2003/2004 -
Courtesy of
Landcor.com
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