The demand for an average detached home in Vancouver has risen as foreign investors have driven up prices in the city. This has lead to many baby-boomers realizing that this would be the best time to for them to sell and head out to smaller towns.
While housing prices in Vancouver have been steadily rising, older residents of the city are now selling their houses to receive windfalls and move away to other places.
The demand for an average detached home in Vancouver has risen as foreign investors have driven up prices in the city. This has lead to many baby-boomers realizing that this would be the best time to for them to sell and head out to smaller towns.
It also appears that most of those selling actually fear a housing bubble burst once the foreign demand slows down. Senior citizens are moving from Vancouver to retirement homes and private homes across suburban areas. This has also led to a jump in housing prices in areas where the seniors are now settling.
Qualicum Beach, which can be described as Canada’s number one retirement hub, has seen home prices increase by 24 percent, the number of home sales too have doubled. Majority of these new residents are over the age of 65.
These retirement towns are facing issues that are usually dealt with by big cities, sky high prices, new construction and bidding wars. Estate agents are breaking sales records even as the prices sky rocket.
Surprising the real estate market at Qualicum Beach and Sechelt has actually surpassed Vancouver in terms of sales and increases in property prices. New records have been set as more seniors move to these towns.
There is another reason the senior citizens are moving out of Vancouver, after selling their houses, they can no longer afford a house in the city. The higher living and travel expenses in the city make it difficult for the seniors to actually save any money they had received from the house selling windfall.
While the housing market still soars, the new federal initiative to hike the minimum down payment needed to purchase a house does not seem to have made a difference here.
There have also been reports of Vancouver and Toronto housing markets being ‘dangerously un-affordable’. A Royal Bank of Canada report said while housing is becoming more affordable in parts of Canada, in Toronto and Vancouver only condominium apartments remain “within reach.”
