Prince Edward Island - My Home

Not many people are familiar with Prince Edward Island so I thought I would change things up and do a post on where I live with a little bit of real estate related info too.

Prince Edward Island, Canada is on the east coast of Canada and it is surrounded by miles of sandy beaches and red sandstone cliffs. The maritime province is the smallest in Canada in both land area and population (excluding the territories). There are only 140,000 "Islanders" presently living in the province with Charlottetown (capital) and Summerside consisting of a large portion of the population. Charlottetown is often referred to as the birthplace of Confederation as the first meetings to establish Canada were held there. There is 22 plus golf courses on PEI.  A substantial amount for such a small geographic area.

The province is known mostly for the vast array of farms, primarily potatoes farms. “PEI currently accounts for a third of Canada's total potato production, producing approximately 1.3 billion kilograms annually. Comparatively, the state of Idaho produces approximately 6.2 billion kilograms annually, with a population approximately 9.5 times greater.” (Wikipedia).

There is very little manufacturing and the economy relies heavily on farming, tourism, and fishing. To get to PEI you will have to fly into Charlottetown, take a ferry, or take the Confederation bridge which is the longest bridge in the world covering iced water.

There are a lot of small communities and PEI is a slower, relaxing place. Islanders are a very tight knit community and will consider you to be “from away” if you were not born on PEI. Even if you have lived there for 50 years you are still classed as such. That being said, the people are extremely nice here and practice East Coast Canadian friendliness.

PEI Real Estate Summary

Prince Edward Island has some of the cheapest land in North American due primarily to its low cost of living. Real estate values on PEI have grown consistently over the years but have never been part of a huge boom nor bust. Therefore there are still great inexpensive properties available with the majority “from away” buying summer homes/cottages. In recent years there has been a run up in Americans buying PEI waterfront lots. This has dropped since the rise of the Canadian dollar in comparison the US dollar. But, the influx of Western Canadian buyers has kept the waterfront buying fairly steady even with the decrease in American buyers. Developments are slower to arrive on PEI and they have just recently seen condo developments slowly springing up.

If you want to learn more visit the PEI Tourism Website. If you want to look at PEI Real Estate check out listings online from Century 21. Planning to visit? Try and go in the summer months unless you like snow and hockey...