City house prices continue to ascent

B.C. real-estate values are still rising - with double-digit jumps in parts of Metro Vancouver - but recreational properties continue to drop in price.
 
The stats emerged Tuesday in B.C. Assessment's annual report of property values in the province.
 
"Drops in the recreational market are not surprising. It tends to be the last property market to recover after a recession," said Cameron Muir, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association.
 
"The drop is being exacerbated by the relative bargains south of the border," he said.
 
Experts said the relatively high value of the Canadian dollar has also played a role in discouraging foreign purchases and lowering prices at ski resorts.
 
Locations dropping in average residential home value include Whistler and Kimberley (minus six per cent), Sun Peaks (minus eight per cent) and Revelstoke (minus nine per cent).
 
Single-family dwellings in Whistler's Creekside were down more than $90,000 to an average $919,000.
 
Muir said the pinch will be felt by recreational property developers who have large inventories of unsold product, rather than individuals.
 
"Many recreational property owners hold them as lifestyle choices rather than investments," he said.
 
Tsur Somerville, director of the Centre for Urban Economics and Real Estate at the University of B.C., said another trend emerging was the strength of real-estate prices in B.C.
 
B.C. Assessment said that total real-estate value in the province has increased six per cent between July 2010 and July 2011.
 
There are more than 14,000 new properties, a function of the expanding housing stock.
 
Residential prices jumped significantly in Richmond, Vancouver and West Vancouver, which all averaged 16-per-cent gains.
 
"There were double-digit price increases which we didn't see elsewhere," said Somerville.
 
Somerville said no data exists to break down the percentage of units which were sold to offshore buyers.
 
Among the places making double-digit gains was Fort St. James, a small resource town in central B.C. that is experiencing a forestindustry revival and the prospect of a coppergold mine at nearby Thompson Creek, which will provide 400 jobs in 2013.
 
"The mine's a beauty. We have been waiting 30 years for it," said Rob MacDougall, mayor of the town of 1,300.
 
With a 17-per-cent jump in home assessments this year, he said, a three-bedroom house that might have cost $100,000 during the down times four years ago is now fetching up to $175,000.
 
"The people here are very positive. We're here for the long haul, rolling with the punches," he said.
 
Property assessments across B.C. will be used by local governments to calculate 2012 property taxes.
 
Because increasing values can result in higher taxes, the provincial government announced that changes will be made to homeowners' grants. The grants provide a maximum reduction of $570 in Greater Victoria, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley, and $770 elsewhere in the province.
 
The threshold for grant eligibility will be raised from $1.15 million to $1.285 million to protect homeowners from higher assessments, said Finance Minister Kevin Falcon.
 
For detailed information on assessments go to bcassessment.ca.
 
kspencer@theprovince.com twitter.com/kentspencer2
 
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