Tag Archives: Kathy Reimer

Market Analysis, June 2016, Salt Spring Island

Seasonless Investment Opportunities

Here we are, entering what might be seen as the mid-point of our year.

Although in a way seasonless, with people visiting the Island and also seeking property investments, at any time throughout the year, the main grid of real estate sales action does fall between May 2016, Salt Spring Market Analysis and October 2015, Market Analysis.

Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Island

Here we are, entering what might be seen as the mid-point of our year.

Although in a way seasonless, with people visiting the Island and also seeking property investments, at any time throughout the year, the main grid of real estate sales action does fall between May and October.

June can be a quieter month, at least in the first weeks. Perhaps it’s because of the school “year end” activities, graduations, weddings, planning for summer vacations…there is often a brief “pause” in the first days of this month. By the last week, though, summer-summer is with us.

Salt Spring Family

This is the Year

This is the year of an authentic market recovery (after an eight year downturn of huge proportions). It began, on Salt Spring & the Gulf Islands, about 9 weeks ago. Very new, then.

At the moment, the main sales have been in residential…and on Salt Spring mainly between 400,000 and 750,000. There are some few sales between 900,000 and 1.8 million.

Salt Spring Island

Salt Spring Island

Slowly, slowly we are seeing an improving trend in Skywater Acres, Undeveloped Land Salt Spring Island, in upper tier priced residential, and in commercial options. The brisk sales in that 400 to 700,000 residential range have mainly been to buyers from Vancouver…most of them have sold to off-shore buyers, and are thus seeking their new lifestyle alternatives. Last Fall, they were buying on Sunshine Coast and in Okanagan. Then, their attention turned to this side of Georgia Strait. First, into Victoria…and now throughout Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.

Vancouver Residents Now Call Salt Spring Home!

The traditional buyer profile on Salt Spring and the Gulf Islands had been from Alberta, Canada and the U.S. Some few buyers from the U.K. and Europe…plus from Asia…and some retirees from Ontario. The Alberta and U.S. buyers have not currently been in evidence. This influx from Vancouver buyers is something new.

Things about our Trust You Should Know

The Gulf Islands form of governance is managed by the provincial government (Islands Trust). Two elected trustees every civic election. The Trust documents were put in place in 1974. Growth is strictly controlled by strong zoning/density bylaws. The CRD (Capital Regional District) also has an elected representative on Salt Spring.

The Trust’s mandate is “to preserve and protect” the environmental beauties of the Gulf Islands, for the benefit of all B.C. residents. These restrictions effectively capped growth, and so there is always a thin inventory of properties for sale on the Gulf Islands, regardless of market trend in place. Finite inventory creates price escalation, over time.

Opportunities to Give Back

I notice that there is a strong volunteer spirit alive and well on Salt Spring Island. Volunteers have been behind: ArtSpring, Library, indoor pool, the pathways for pedestrians on main roads, trails in parks for hikers/walkers, etc. Lately, it’s been a fundraising effort to add a squash court to the indoor tennis building on the golf course property.

Kathy Reimer’s work to bring the fish back to spawn in the creeks on Salt Spring is an amazing example of the spirit of volunteerism. So many similar stories….

I think, when the boardwalk (sea walk? Harbour walk?) is completed, we should have a lovely curving stone wall there, one that would allow for “thank you plaques”…so many volunteers over the years who have contributed to the Salt Spring community. Time for a commemoration feature to thank them? Long overdue!

So, a pleasing and thoughtful and energetic community, in a scenically beautiful region, with a stellar marine environment, and with a limited amount of developable land (the rest is preserved in natural state)…hmmm…a recipe for property investment of a unique kind?

Markets have a rhythm. After that 8 year downturn, the local real estate market is on the uptick. Couple market action with the non-growth governance model and one can see why a Salt Spring or Gulf Island property purchase is at a higher price point than in some other areas.

There is always opportunity, regardless of market trend.

With low inventory, and high buyer demand, the result is always higher prices. In some price segments, we are already noting seller’s market conditions. Perhaps by late Fall, we will see this in all property categories.

A market is a wave pattern…crest, trough, crest…we appear to be on the way to a crest moment again.