As prices rise dramatically in cities like Squamish, locals head farther afield to find homes
Dawn Mortensen lived in Squamish, B.C., for two decades. She married a born-and-bred local man, raised a son, and delighted in the easy access to outdoor adventure.
But then, something shifted.
"We've just seen a change with all of the people moving there from the city — going from small-town Squamish to more like a city centre," Mortensen told CBC News.
And so she and her husband Peter packed up and left for Lillooet, B.C., where she opened up shop last year as one of only two real estate agents in the picturesque town of about 1,500 people.
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She loves the easy access to lakes and mountain biking trails, and the housing business has been brisk. Mortensen says most of her clients are people like her, referrals from places along the Sea-to-Sky corridor that have been flooded with Vancouverites on the hunt for more affordable places to live.
"The majority of people who are moving here are young families, actually, who are priced out of the market in Squamish ... or people our age who are selling out because the prices are so high," said Mortensen, who is in her 50s.
These clients belong to a second wave of real estate refugees rippling outward from the Lower Mainland. Even in Lillooet, nearly a four-hour drive from Vancouver on narrow mountain roads, people are feeling the secondary effects of the Lower Mainland's out-of-control real estate market.
Residential assessments in Lillooet jumped by an average of 15 per cent between 2016 and 2017, and Mortensen said she's taken some heat for that.
"Some people are upset with me here in town, saying I've changed the whole dynamic, I've increased the price of real estate because the whole demand has increased prices," she said. "I can't take personal responsibility for sharing what a wonderful place this is."
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