Harrison Hot Springs

Harrison Hot Springs

On the surface, Harrison Hot Springs looks like a straightforward resort play. It’s a historic village built around the hot springs at the southern tip of Harrison Lake, an easy drive from the Lower Mainland for anyone looking to escape the city. For over a century, people have come to soak in the mineral water, enjoy the scenery, and maybe catch a glimpse of the Sasquatch—a story with deep roots in local Sts’ailes culture that gives the town a unique identity.

The appeal is obvious, and people are buying in. The population has jumped by nearly 30% since 2016. But who is moving here? The data paints a clear picture of a retiree and second-home destination. The median age is a high 57.2, and nearly a third of the population is over 65. This isn’t just a town of vacation condos; two-thirds of the dwellings are single-detached houses, suggesting a more permanent, established community. It’s quiet, it’s scenic, and for many, it’s the perfect place to settle down.

From a lender’s perspective, however, this idyllic picture gets complicated once you look past the lifestyle appeal and into the local economy. A resort town’s economy is always sensitive to broader downturns. When household budgets tighten, vacation properties and weekend getaways are the first expenses to be cut. The underlying economic data for Harrison’s permanent residents shows this vulnerability. The unemployment rate sits at a concerning 8.3%, and the overall employment rate is low at just 44.1%. The top industries are retail and food service, exactly the sectors that suffer most in a recession.

While the median household income is $74,000, that number doesn’t tell the whole story. A significant 22% of the total income reported in the community comes from government transfers, which points to a lack of strong, local earning power. These are not the metrics of a resilient, diversified economy that can weather a storm.

Our lending model is built on a safety-first principle. We have to stress-test every deal against a worst-case recovery scenario. In a small, tourism-dependent market like Harrison, a downturn could lead to extended foreclosure timelines and real difficulty selling a property for its appraised value. The same factors that make it a desirable vacation spot—its relative isolation and small scale—create serious liquidity risk for a lender. If we have to take a property back, the pool of potential buyers is small and largely external. In a recession, that pool dries up almost completely. While it’s a beautiful place to visit, the economic realities don’t work for us.

For these reasons, our maximum loan-to-value in Harrison Hot Springs is 0.0%. We don’t currently fund deals in this community.