Canmore's recreational properties selling for an average $1.67 million: report

After heating up for the past year, Canmore's recreational property prices will rise even further in the next 12 months, a new Royal LePage report projects.

The median price of a single-family detached home jumped 4.4 per cent in the first nine months of this year to $1.67 million, and is projected to increase another 3.5 per cent in the next 12 months, according to Royal LePage's 2024 Winter Recreational Property Report. The report also found the price of standard condos in the town rose 9.8 per cent in that same time period, to $765,000.

Canmore's thriving housing market saw this increase even as the report found housing prices in winter recreational properties in towns across British Columbia, including Whistler and Sun Peaks, dropped last year. For the six B.C. towns included in the report, the median price of a single-family detached house and a standard condo both dropped 2.6 per cent.

Canmore prices are being driven up by two main factors, high demand and low supply, influenced by the town's limited land base, according to Royal LePage Solutions associate broker Brad Hawker.

"We're between Bow Valley Provincial Park and Banff National Park and mountains on either side, so very limited land base and that's where the markets at," Hawker said.

He added the high demand for recreational properties in Canmore is driven by people from Calgary, Edmonton and other Alberta communities, but since the COVID-19 pandemic, the region has also received more interest from people in B.C., Ontario and Quebec.

Hawker noted that the community's efforts to appeal more to pedestrians, by becoming more walkable and bike-friendly with lower speed limits for motorists and an improved trail system, has helped encourage new short-term rental projects.

He projects more local buyers to move into the market during the first half of 2025, especially if interest rates fall by mid-year.

Canmore struggling with home price-out

Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert told CBC News that, while the rising price of recreational properties in the town is staggering, it isn't surprising to him.

He noted the median assessed value of a single-family Canmore home is currently nearly $1.4 million, and the median assessed value of all residential properties in the town is just over $1 million.

"The high cost of land here and the high cost of housing is a considerable issue for our community," Krausert said. "Obviously the average worker in town ... cannot afford those prices."

The mayor added it has become increasingly difficult to attract and retain employees due to the high cost of homes in the town, saying there is a strong demand for affordable homes as well as affordable rental properties.

"We are taking bold steps to increase the numbers and pace of non-market housing, both ownership and rental, that we will be building over the next number of years," Krausert said.

"And we are also requiring that every resident be part of the solution, either by housing a primary resident or paying higher taxes to pay for the affordable housing."

Krausert said non-market housing is not subsidized housing, but rather housing that does not appreciate according to market forces and will remain affordable long after it's built.

He added Canmore has approved area structure plans and specific developments that over the next five to 10 years are expected to produce more than 2,000 units of non-market housing and nearly 6,000 units of what would be considered entry-level homes.

Krausert said failing to act on the housing situation is not an option if his town wants to avoid the fate of other communities similar to Canmore, which have seen the gutting of their residents because of high home prices.

"We can take a look at other mountain towns that are tourist destinations to see our future if we don't do anything," he said. "And what happens in those communities is they become enclaves for the very wealthy. You lose young families, you lose schools, you lose professionals."

The Canmore mayor said the way home prices are trending, the town is on a path toward becoming a resort bedroom community.

"That's not the community that a majority of Canmore residents want."

Krausert said while other mountain towns have different tools available to them to control the price of homes and who can buy them, Canmore is unable to implement policies like Banff's need-to-reside rule, which plainly states that, in order to live in Banff, you need to work in Banff.

"We also don't have any ability to require a developer-builder to provide a certain amount of affordable housing. That's called inclusionary zoning that is not allowed in Alberta," he said.

Canmore has to rely on using taxation and land planning policy to produce affordable housing, according to Krausert.

"The bottom line is that there has been nothing introduced to the Canmore market in terms of housing that has remained affordable or accessible past the first owner or two," he said.

"Everything has gone up."