Friday, February 29, 2008

Non-Resident Ownership on the Rise

Non-resident ownership in the West Kootenay region is on the increase says the senior planner with the Regional District of Central Kootenay.

Monty Horton said with the price of real estate sitting low in comparison to Lower Mainland, Alberta and US markets, the region and Nelson will see a current 34 per cent non-district ownership level rise.

Of the 22,541 properties in rural RDCK and 15,044 in municipalities, around 10 percent of the properties were owned by Albertans and 19 percent owned by BC residents living outside of the RDCK, according to a 2007 Year End Report prepared by the RDCK’s Development Services Department.

Nearly 11 percent of the properties in municipalities like Nelson were owned by Albertans, with Kaslo the highest at 25 percent.

The percentage of non-district owners hasn’t reached a critical level, said Horton byt it is increasing.

“We’re slowly taking steps towards becoming an elitist community,” he said. “But if it does get to the excess (like the Okanagan) the community will recognize that before it is a problem.”

Of the non-district owners in the RDCK, three percent were from the US and 1.5 percent by people from other provinces.

The figures were calculated after Crown, BC, Hydro, FortisBC, gas utilities, school board and Columbia Power properties were taken out.

Area D north of Kaslo had the largest non-resident ownership at 32 percent as well as the highest US share at four percent. Area A on the East Shore had the second highest non-resident ownership at 27 percent.

A large non-resident population erodes the fabric of a community, said Horton, with schools and businesses closing and the older demographic pushing out the younger one.

But right now it is a law of supply and demand, said Horton, and if there is a supply of cheap real estate it is going to get snapped up.

Projects in the rural areas are now beginning to reflect that demand. Two weeks ago a developer began the application process to place a proposed 85 lot bare land strata on a property next to the Ministry of Forests Building on the North Shore.

This demand continues to come despite a 21 percent increase in the assessed value of residences in the RDCK and a 95 percent change since 2005, according to the BC Assessment Authority. Nelson jumped by 91 percent in the same time span.

Dennis Hickson with BC Assessment told the RDCK board of directors Saturday in their regular monthly board meeting, Nelson and the boarding RDCK electoral areas, E and F, led the West Kootenay in total residential assessed values.

This means the average price of a home in those areas is high, Hickson said, reflecting peoples desire to live there. Nelson’s average value was $305,538, a number which now includes strata’s, and Area E was $293,329 but Area F led the entire RDCK at $348,638.

“Nelson, as far as home value goes, is the absolute hub of the West Kootenays and that explains why areas E and F have followed,” he said.

Although some areas like Slocan come in at $61,832 average value per occurrence, they have experienced a 23 percent rise in residential assessed value sine 2007.

The hottest markets from an assessed value perspective this year is Kaslo and Area K, the Arrow Lakes region, with a 30 percent change. However, this moves the average price per home in Kaslo to $153,690 and to $198,782 in Area K.

Area I northeast of Castlegar had a 28 percent jump as average assessed house values rose to $$232,781. Nelson itself had a 15 percent increase, while areas E and F were 20 and 18 percent respectively.

Timothy Schafer Nelson Daily News February 26, 2008

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