An article in yesterday's Vancouver Sun caught my eye as it mentioned the impending closure of two of Imperial Oil's Esso marine fuel stations used by recreational boaters and commuters in Vancouver. The stations in question are at West Vancouver's Fisherman's Cove and in False Creek; two critical locations to boat owners in the area as there are currently no other marine fuel suppliers at these locations. According to the article, the closure is causing a panic amongst boat owners, who are loading up on fuel by hand and creating a potentially dangerous situation in the process.
Initially, Imperial had planned to sell the West Vancouver station to Bruce Falkins, the current operator of the station; however, after doing his due diligence and agreeing to upgrade the oil tanks to the required "Enviro" tanks, Bruce was told that Imperial will no longer sell the station but plans to destroy it because of liability fears concerning the structure of the building. According to Bruce, in addition to the inconvenience caused by a closure, the lack of gas in these areas could be a concern to boater safety as the West Vancouver station is used by various emergency service providers. Currently, Bruce is trying to have Imperial reconsider the sale and is asking for any concerned citizens to write to Imperial asking them to overturn the decision.
Prior to this year, Imperial has sold its marine fuel stations in other crucial areas such as Victoria's Inner Harbour, Gibsons and Deep Cove, so the decision to destroy some of its remaining stations rather than selling them comes as a surprise. It would be interesting to find out what their lawyers have found to cause all of the concern and have them pay to destroy these stations.
I have put a call in to Imperial and will post the other 5 locations in this blog when/if I find out where they are. They may be sold rather than closed depending on the locations and sturctures in question.
Note:
All of this talk about closing gas stations and the panic that has ensued, got me thinking about a documentary I recently viewed regarding the future of oil production and how the lack thereof will effect us. If you're interested, you can click here to link to the movie's web site: A Crude Awakening, The Oil Crash
After looking at waterfront property around the province for much of the day, I consider a single family lake or oceanfront property under $650, 000 to be a good price on southern Vancouver Island and in the current market. While investigating the market in our 5th area for single family waterfront sales this week (Duncan Rural), I got excited about some of the seemingly good opportunities around the Duncan area. According to our stats from MyLandcor, Duncan Rural includes areas such as Shawnigan Lake , Mill Bay, Cowichan Lake, Youbou, Cherry Point, etc...
Having lived in Victoria most of my life, I remember Shawnigan Lake as a popular destination for summer getaways. In those days, it seemed a long way out of the city but with the recent growth of the Western Communities , it seems you are barely out of the city when you reach the infamous "Malahat." Now it seems these areas are just a hop, skip and a jump from Victoria and with the population of Victoria spilling over the Malahat into areas like Mill Bay, Duncan and Shawnigan Lake I am suprised that the waterfront prices aren't higher. While Cowichan Lake is a little farther away, it is still within a two hours drive of downtown Victoria-not bad as a vacation destination considering Ozzie Jurock considers anything 4 hours from Vancouver a shoe-in for vacation property.
Our member Realtor, Norm deWit, owner of Osborne Realty and www.waterfrontvancouverisland.com, specializes in waterfront on the Island and particularly the area around Duncan including Lake Cowichan, Shawnigan Lake, Youbou, etc...While Norm's office says this year was a bit slower (which our stats reflect-click here for reference), the average sale price for single family waterfront in this region only increased (so far) by just over $65, 000-a far cry from other areas such as the Sunshine Coast, where prices in some areas went up over $300, 000 since last year. A quick search of the MLS "Duncan" region shows lakefront for under $500, 000 and even oceanfront property close to $400, 000 (!)
Who is buying in this area? Norm says they are seeing buyers mainly from Alberta and other parts of B.C. but also some from Europe, the U.S. and even Mexico.
Norm's value pick's for the area are listed below:
Our #4 area for single family waterfront sales this year (and the one with the most noticeable price increase!) is Sechelt (Rural) While the District of Sechelt has had a number of waterfront single family sales this year with an average selling price of $677, 445, it is the whole area surrounding Sechelt-basically from Gibsons up (but not including the actual Town of Gibsons or District of Sechelt) that is included in these statistics. In addition, this jurisdiction includes Gambier and Keats Islands, Nelson and Hardy Islands and Jervis Inlet. Quite a large area to say the least!
For many years, the Sunshine Coast has been a destination for Vancouverties looking for a weekend place to "get away from it all". Popular waterfront areas on the Sunshine Coast include Halfmoon Bay, Pender Harbour and Robert's Creek to name a few. While the market for vacation homes remains hot here, in recent years, more buyers have been purchasing primary homes and making a permanent move to the area. The Sunshine Coast Regional District had an 8.4% population increase between 2001-2006 and the average age in the District is 47.2 years old according to the 2006 census.
For the last two years, the market on the Sunshine Coast has been balanced with a sales to listing ratio of between 0.5-1 based on a three month moving average. According to the MLS Housing price index, the average price of a single family home on the Sunshine Coast has risen 8.6% over the last 12 months to $409, 740. Permit values in the Sunshine Coast Regional District have increased dramatically since 2001. 2006 reached 73.3 million!
I spoke to Patti Gaudetof Prudential Sussex Realty , Madeira Park and Bruce LaSuta of Prudential Sussex Realty in Sechelt about the Sunshine Coast waterfront real estate market. Bruce says "the majority of our Buyers are from the lower mainland (Vancouver area) but we are also seeing many Albertan Buyers as well this year. The internet and the information it supplies make our jobs as Realtors much easier as we are finding that the Buyers are more informed on the local market."
Regarding the "sub-prime" issue in the States, Bruce says "it is having little effect on us in Canada 'though the Eastern Buyers are dwindling off likely because of the high Canadian dollar that has really hurt some manufacturers, especially in the auto industry. Long-term, real estate is still very desirable and the baby boomers (over 50% of them are over 50 years old this year !) here in Canada are purchasing their retirement homes in anticipation of them leaving the workforce."
Bruce is right on the mark with this comment. If you have been following our blog for the last few months, you are aware of the effect of this mass exodus of baby boomers from larger cities to smaller towns, where they can upgrade their residence to a waterfront, view home or small acreage and enjoy a higher standard of living than they may have had in they city. Click here to view Bruce's listing in Halfmoon Bay.
Patti agrees that most of the buyers they see are coming from Vancouver. Interestingly, she says that properties with docks and foreshore leases in Pender Harbour come at a premium (about $100, 000 more than those without she estimates) as Lower Mainlanders who have purchased vacation homes there like to boat up for weekends and avoid the ferry traffic.
As for waterfront prices in the area, Patti noted that some buyers are still under the misconception that they can get a waterfront place in the price range of $400, 000-500, 000 but that this is no longer the case in this busy waterfront market (with the exception of leasehold property). Indeed, based on our October statistics, single family waterfront homes in this jurisdiction had risen by an average of over $300, 000 from $697,628 in 2006 to an average sale price of$1, 007, 366 so far in 2007. Price-wise, anything under $1, 000 000 in the popular waterfront neighbourhoods is hot, according to our Realtors.
