Overlooking Cowichan Lake from atop the Point Ideal area, Jack Fyfe and Gail Sprung are currently working on constructing a brand new home.
Currently, the two are the first occupants of a cul-de-sac tentatively named Point Ideal Place.
“We don’t even have an address yet,” Fyfe said, enthusiastically looking over his scenic lot of land.
The couple’s housing startup is one of three that have been reported to the Town of Lake Cowichan office thus far, this year, though the town’s director of finance Ronnie Gill expects things to pick up a bit as soon as things progress into the summer.
This is about an average number for this time of year, Gill said.
Last year had a total of 19 housing startups
Meanwhile, things at the Woodland Shores development on the Bald Mountain Peninsula are chugging along.
“Right now, we’ve got five starts going that are already looking good,” DFH Realty real estate agent Norm DeWitt said, of Woodland Shores. Three additional startups are on the horizon.
With only about five lots of land sold last year, DeWitt said that he expects things to pick up a bit.
Once it’s feasible to begin phase two, DeWitt said that things will get a bit different at the development, with several lots set aside for multi-density cluster housing, mixing into the total of 275 total units to be constructed in the next decade.
The long-talked about Youbou Lands development is still going through approval with the Ministry of Environment, after developers spent $5.5 million in environmental cleanup costs.
Pending approval, it’s hoped that the first phase of development starts up this summer, with 100 new units expected to be installed every year for the next two decades.
As far as the sale of existing houses at Cowichan Lake goes, things started off well, and then slumped in March.
“It did really well at the beginning of the year, and then we had terrible weather, so they slowed down,” local real estate agent Wendy Klyne said.
So far this year, 13 single family houses have been sold in the Cowichan Lake area, compared to 21 by this time last year.
“I still think it’s going to be a good year,” she said, adding that she feels the economy is turning around nicely, despite what others may say.