Rec property listings near Edmonton likely to remain scarce in 2025

Article content

The Edmonton region may not be known for its surrounding recreational communities, but the few that exist are indeed revered by residents and, in turn, hot real estate commodities.

That is, if buyers can find them.

“There is just not a lot of inventory,” says Tom Shearer, broker/owner of Royal LePage Noralta Real Estate in Edmonton.

“That’s the major concern for buyers in the region.”

What’s more, competition may become all the more fierce for properties in the coming year despite low supply in markets like Lac St. Anne, Lake Wabamun and Pigeon Lake.

That’s the prediction of the recent Royal LePage’s Winter Recreational Report, which largely focuses on popular ski regions.

Yet it forecasts higher demand for recreational properties in general as interest rates are expected to decline even more in 2025.

Edmonton area recreational communities are not known for being winter destinations, but that likely won’t stop many prospective buyers with the financial means to keep an eye on these markets should properties list, Shearer says.

That said, many Edmontonians with the ability to buy a rec property are looking farther afield. That includes Canmore, Alberta’s most expensive real estate markets as well one of Canada’s — recreational or residential.

There, the forecast predicts the average price of a single-family detached home will increase 3.5 per cent to nearly $1.73 million in 2025. That’s after growing about 4.4 per cent in 2024 to $1.67 million.

Overall, recreational properties are expected to increase in value by 7.5 per cent in 2025 across Canada, the report suggests. Leading that growth are alpine properties in Quebec and British Columbia. Notably for Albertans, who often favour the Columbia Valley just over the Alberta-B.C. border, Invermere is forecast to see its average price for a single-family detached home to grow 10 per cent to $823,900. That is the most among all recreational communities in Canada, even ahead of Whistler. The most expensive market in Canada, Whistler is forecast to see its average price grow nine per cent to nearly $3.9 million.

Condominiums are not seeing as rosy a forecast, the report notes. In Whistler, for example, the average price is forecast to fall more than 12 per cent to $583,600.

Canmore, though, is one of the condo market outliers in the report where the average price is expected to grow nearly 10 per cent to $765,000.

Its growth is likely a reflection of it being a growing city with its condominium market appealing to locals — working families.

This segment of buyers represents significant pent-up demand, given many were unable to purchase amid higher borrowing costs, says Brad Hawker, realtor and associate broker with Royal LePage Solutions in Canmore.

“That part of the market had really slowed down.”

But it should pick up as interest rates on mortgages come down in 2025, as the report predicts.

Overall, Canada’s recreational market is expected to see a rebound after a few challenging years of higher interest rates, says Phil Soper, president and chief executive officer of Royal LePage.

“It’s been slow like urban markets,” he says, noting older millennials have not been able to make that leap into the recreational market yet.

That may soon change should mortgage rates decline more, and residential home values rise, providing this demographic with the housing wealth to consider a recreational purchase, he adds.

“These are really discretionary purchases so you need to feel wealthy enough to make this type of commitment, and rising residential home prices could help with that in 2025.”