1 in 6 (17%) Canadian Cottage Owners Looking to Sell in Next 2-3 Years...40% of Those Looking to Buy Plan to Rent Out Cottage When Not in Use

Toronto, ONTARIO - According to a new Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of Royal LePage, of those Canadians who own a cottage or recreational property, 17% are likely to sell within the next two to three years (8% "very likely", 9% "somewhat likely"), this number has nominally increased since our last sounding in 2001 (13%). Ten percent (10%) of cottage owners rent out their cottage/recreational property when they are not using it to help cover some of their costs, and 40% of those Canadians who are likely to purchase a cottage in the next two to three years say they plan to rent.

Half (50%) of Canadians who own cottages or who are considering purchasing a cottage say they are looking mostly for peace and tranquility out of cottage life; nearly four in ten (38%) are looking mostly for quality time with their family. Only 9% say they are mainly looking to party and let loose at the cottage.

While more than eight in ten cottage owners (84%) say they have never asked their neighbours to keep their noise or music down, 15% say they have asked neighbours to keep it down at some point in the past. A third of cottage owners (32%) have had their cottage/recreational property broken into, vandalized, or have had something stolen from their property. And, more than half (52%) of cottage owners and Canadians considering purchasing a cottage/recreational property within the next three years consider the police patrol on the cottage lakes and waters to be adequate (13% "more than adequate", 39% "somewhat adequate").

Other findings revealed that considering the shortage of cottage or recreational property inventory, nearly half of cottage owners (44%) say they "strongly oppose" new development and another 18% "somewhat oppose" it. Of those Canadians considering purchasing a cottage or recreational property within the next three years, 55% are in favour of new development in the area where they are searching (25% "strongly favour", 30% "somewhat favour"); this number is up 5 percentage points since 2002 polling.

Nearly one in ten Canadians (8%) currently own a cottage or a recreational property, and an additional 6% are likely to purchase a cottage or a recreational property within the next three years. These numbers have remained virtually unchanged since 2001 (2001: 10% own, 7% likely to purchase; 2002: 9% own, 6% likely to purchase).

These are the findings of an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted on behalf of Royal LePage between April 14th and April 29th, 2003. The poll is based on a randomly selected sample of 4,000 adult Canadians. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1771.6 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been surveyed. Of the 4,000 adult Canadians surveyed, 537 were classified as either cottage/recreational property owner, or likely of purchasing a cottage/recreational property within the next three years. With a sub-sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within 1774.3 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been surveyed. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.

To view the factum and response tables please open the attached PDF documents.

-30-

For more information on this news release, please contact:
John Wright
Senior Vice-President
Public Affairs Ipsos-Reid
(416) 324-2900