Real Estate

Go Figure: We kick back and look at the numbers on vacation properties in B.C.

Answering your burning questions on vacation properties: What percentage of people own a cabin and what do they want in it?

By Michael McCullough /

Eleven percent of Canadians currently own a cabin. A similar share aims to buy one.

The most sought-after attributes in a vacation property are waterfront (77%) and access to recreational activities such as skiing or water sports (59%).

While we imagine the vacation home as a playground for kids, only 26% are owned by families with children. Most Canadians’ vacation homes  are located  in Canada, but 21% are outside the country.

The median price of  a single-family home in B.C.’s vacation hot spots at the end of 2023 was $1,086,500, up 0.3% year-over-year. Single-family waterfront properties averaged $2,295,400,down 8.7%. Vacation condos cost an average of $415,000, down 6.3%.

An 8,700-square-foot home in Whistler with an 82-foot infinity pool sold for $32 million last July, setting a price record for the resort municipality.

Wonder why commercial hotel operators are up  in arms over Airbnb? Short-term rentals (STRs) as a percentage of Canada’s accommodation services subsector more than doubled  between 2017 and 2021:

Projected revenue of vacation rentals in Canada in 2024: US$1.9 billion

In B.C., STRs accounted for 1/5 of all accommodations revenue in 2021. In Whistler, which has some of the highest STR rates in Canada, they represented 62.3%.

In part due to rising wildfire and flood risks, the average cost of home and mortgage insurance rose 39% over the five years to December 2023.

Sources: Royal LePage, Re/Max Canada, Statistics Canada, Government of B.C., Firesmart Canada