The Nature Trust of British Columbia has paid an Okanagan landowner $50,000 per acre for 30.4-aces (12.3 hectare) of brush land in the southern Okanagan, a price that local real estate professionals say is a hefty premium.
The conservation organization paid a total of $1.5 million for the “ecologically important” land at the south end of Vaseaux Lake near Oliver, a Nature Trust spokesperson confirmed. The Trust also paid about $200,000 for an “eco-gift” to the Kennedy family, which had owned the land for 127 years, and for legal fees and closing costs on the May transaction.
“The Antelope-brush Conservation Area is the home to many rare and interesting species. Conserving this property and the surrounding land will ensure the survival of key B.C. wildlife for generations to come,” said a Nature Trust release.
“I was exceptionally surprised at the price they are paying,” said a Penticton- based real estate appraiser who asked not to be named, suggesting the price is much higher than local sales would suggest.
“That is a very high price to pay for what it is,” agreed Matt Lewis an Oliver real estate agent with Re/Max Wine Capital Realty, who is familiar with the property. Lewis similar non-lakefront, marginal-farm property sells for “perhaps $30,000 per acre” in the area.
Nature Trust had previously purchased a total of about 250 adjacent acres to create the conservation area. “It is a critical property, since there are less than 3,400 hectares of Antelope-brush needle-and-thread grassland remaining in the South Okanagan, with a large portion threatened by development,” the Nature Trust said in statement.
