Please note this proerty has sold since this blog was posted. Updated 12/28/10.

This month we are featuring a beautifully renovated classic oceanfront  home which was previously listed for over 1 million dollars and has now dropped to just $699, 000. This elegant and luxurious home is situated on 2.26 glently sloping acres (with a bonus 200ft of oceanfront!) and faces Baynes sound and the Beaufort mountains. In my opinion, this exposure is the nicest on the island as it offers afternoon sun and great sunsets as you look over the ocean.

This home is now in foreclosure and I believe it represents a great value for the high level of finishing, amount of waterfront and land that it offers.  Definitely worth a look! Click here for details.

One more house I just have to mention...As I was looking up the info to write this blog, I came across another great value on Denman. It does have an offer pending, but is worth a look at only $529, 000. It is oceanfront as well!

For more information on either of these properties, please click here to contact James Warner of RE/MAX The Islands.

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The beginning of March marked a noticeable increase in inquiries to our sellers and traffic on the site, signalling a continued demand for B.C. waterfront property in 2008. Despite higher prices and a fewer sales of waterfront province wide in 2007 than 2006, traffic on the site has almost doubled since last year and shows no signs of slowing. The stats listed below show unique visitors to our site last January, February and March as well as this year's numbers:

January 2007 - 5, 862

February 2007 - 6, 601

March 2007 - 7, 405

January 2008 - 9,861

February 2008 - 9,323 (leap yr)

March 2008 Forecast currently 12. 000-13, 000

Furthermore, email inquiries have picked up and sellers are reporting increased interest from serious buyers in the last few weeks.

Despite the real estate slowdown in Alberta, we are still seeing 23% of our Canadian visitors originating there, over 50% of who are from Calgary. This is exactly the same statistic as last year during the same time period, so there is obviously still pent up demand for B.C. waterfront in Alberta. In addition to these numbers, the percent of US (yes, US!) and UK visitors has increased slightly year over year.

Although I am no psychic, I expect the market to be more balanced this year than in past years, with buyers in the million plus price range taking more time to choose their property. The sense I get is that there are a lot of buyers out there with anywhere from $300, 000 up to about $$650, 000 or 700, 000 to spend on a second home that they will retire to and when the right properties come available in this price range they are snapped up quickly.

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Lately I have been thinking about if the downturn in Alberta's real estate market will effect the sale of B.C. waterfront in 2008. Since our launch, our Canadian site traffic has consisted of 20-25% Albertan visitors and many of our member real estate agents report selling their high-end waterfront homes to Albertans. The word is out-Albertans love B.C. waterfront and have been buying it up steadily in the last few years. The question is, will this demand last with the current market conditions in Calgary and Edmonton?

I decided to take a look at our site statistics to see if I could see any changes in our traffic recently. I compared the traffic from Sept. 5, 2006-Dec. 5, 2006 to the exact same period for 2007. The results? Our site traffic has increased substantially and Albertans still comprise exactly 21% of our Canadian visitors. Albertans comprised 17.4% of our worldwide traffic during this period of 2006, while they made up 16.9% during the same period this year-a drop of a mere 0.5%. Interestingly, I don't believe this minor drop reflects a waning of interest from our Albertan neighbours. Rather, I think it is a result of some additional marketing we have done on sites in the US and abroad, which have resulted in an increase in visitors from other countries.

While our stats show that Albertan interest in B.C. waterfront is still strong, some anecdotal evidence points to the B.C. market already being mildly effected. We have some family friends in Edmonton who put their home on the market about 8 months ago hoping to sell and move to Kelowna. Their house still hasn't sold and their plans to buy in B.C. are on hold. In addition, Ozzie Jurock states in his recent newsletter that he expects to see some Albertan investors backing off of the Kelowna area in 2008.

So what is the conclusion from all of this? Judging from our stats, the interest in B.C. waterfront from Albertans is just as strong as it was last year. In addition, many of our member real estate agents report that they continue to see an influx of Albertans looking for waterfront. Apart from the real estate market, the Albertan economy remains strong. I believe that those Albertans who have decided to buy here to make a lifestyle/retirement change are still set on purchasing; however, the continued increasing B.C. prices (forecast by CMHC) and impact of the Alberta slump may make this more difficult to achieve for those Albertans dependent on selling their own homes to buy their B.C. property. The result may be a more balanced waterfront market and more options for buyers in 2008.

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