Keith W Hern
Managing Broker, KH Realty Limited.
The Kootenay Real Estate Board (KREB), in data released, reported that the total value of real estate sales for the East and West Kootenays for the three months to the end of March 31, 2012 was $97 million, up a whopping fifty percent (50 percent) from the same period for 2011. The total number of properties that traded hands in the first quarter of 2012 was reported to be 385, up from 280 for the same period last year; a significant increase of thirty eight percent (38 percent).
Real Estate sales in Golden also improved significantly over last year. Cumulative residential property sales in the town of Golden for the three month period ending March 31, 2012 were $1.2 million. Six properties were sold during the quarter compared to only one property that traded hands in the same period for the previous year. Although one quarter does not make a trend, the data is encouraging.
In Rural Golden, nine residential properties sold in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the five properties that sold during the same period in 2011. Total real estate sales for the 3 months ending March 31, were $2.6 million in 2012 compared with $2.3 million in 2011, an increase of sixteen percent (16 percent).
A flurry of activity in the first quarter at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort accounted for seven of the nine properties sold in Rural Golden. This can be attributed to the excitement surrounding the purchase of the resort by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) which is expected to have long-term positive effects. Real Estate prices at the resort have fallen by 35 to 40 percent since 2005, very similar to other resort developments in the province, however, if this recent activity is sustained through the rest of 2012, it may signal the bottom of the market for Kicking Horse real estate.
