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Firm bullish on vacation homes for next 15 years: Owning recreational property is a 10- to 15-year prospect for buyers, according to research by the real estate project-marketing firm rareEarth.

Ten to 15 years is the period younger families with the wealth to pour into second properties expect to get before their children outgrow a recreational property, according to the survey of 500 people drawn from rareEarth's registry of potential buyers.

More importantly, it is also the timeframe baby boomers can reasonably expect to get full use out of a ski property or lakeside cottage, rareEarth president James Askew said in an interview.

"This is the window [boomers] see for themselves," Askew said. "If they're [50 or 55] they have a 10- or 15-year window where now they have the wealth, or they see themselves as getting it or acquiring it soon," and are still active and fit enough to enjoy it with their children and grandchildren.

"That is really an area where you've got a built in urgency," he added.

Which means popular resort locations in the Okanagan and on Vancouver Island can expect a lot more development aimed at baby boomers on top of the explosive growth they've already experienced.

That development is also fuelled by the dramatic increase in B.C. property values. Askew said rising property values have changed the equation boomers use to decide whether or not they buy a second property.

Askew said that 20 years ago, people would buy a lake-side cottage and wouldn't expect it to appreciate much in value. Today, however, "it actually makes economic sense."

Biljana Manojlovic, a certified financial planner with RBC Wealth Management, said baby boomers have definitely been emboldened in their retirement planning and are willing to take risks when it comes to assuming new debts because their property values have gone up.

Manojlovic added that there has been a shift in attitude among boomers who are no longer afraid to carry debt into retirement.

And for a lot of her clients lately, real estate figures large in their plans, whether it is downsizing, moving to sun spots or other desirable locations. They don't feel like their lives should slow down with retirement, she said.

"They feel larger than life," she said. "There are so many things they want to do, the economy has been kind to them, their incomes are good, their real estate has gone up in value."

And the idea of taking equity out of their homes with a line of credit so they can put a downpayment on a vacation home doesn't worry them.

(prepared by Derrick Penner/Vancouver Sun)


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