Starting from left, Eric, Ivanka, and Donald Jr. join their father Donald Trump when the family visited Vancouver in 2013.MICHELLE DA SILVA
Perhaps it’s time to dump Donald’s brand.
For years, there had been calls to rename the Trump International Hotel and Tower Vancouver because of controversies involving the now soon-to-be ex-U.S. president.
These have been ignored so far.
Realtor and market observer David Hutchinson wonders if Donald Trump’s name is bad for sales at the residential skyscraper.
“Maybe it needs to be Biden Tower,” Hutchinson joked, referring to incoming American president Joe Biden.
Real-estate site Zealty.ca lists seven condo units at Trump Tower at 1151 West Georgia Street that have yet to find buyers.
One example is Unit 3602.
As of today (January 17), Unit 3602 has been on the market for 377 days.
The two-bedroom, three-bath apartment was listed by Coldwell Banker Prestige Realty on January 6, 2020 for $2,480,000.
Another example is a sub-penthouse, the most expensive in the list on unsold properties at Trump Tower.
Unit 6705 is priced at $7,980,000. Royal Pacific Realty Corp. listed the property on September 23, 2020.
The sub-penthouse, whose ownership interest is noted by the Zealty.ca site as “First Nations Lease”, marked its 117 days on the market as of January 17, 2021.
Another example is Unit 4303.
Royal Pacific Realty Corp. listed Unit 4303 on July 13, 2020. As of today (January 17, 2021), it’s been on the market for 191 days.
The three-bedroom, three-bath unit has a listing priceof $3,998,000.
Hutchinson, a realtor with Sutton Group-West Coast Realty, noted that the newest listing is for Unit 3706.
Unit 376 came on the market on January 5, 2021. The listing price is $1,198,000.
“Will the building change its name? Does the name hurt?” Hutchinson asked.
The Trump Organization licensed its name to the tower developer, the Holborn Group.
Trump and his family visited Vancouver in 2013.
Promotional image by Coldwell Banker Prestige Realty for a $2,480,000 condo at Trump Tower.
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Vancouver real estate: Low supply behind price increases for detached homes
Detached home sales in greater Vancouver for December were up 70 per cent year-on-year at 1,034, just off the record high of 1,131 in December 2015 when prices were inflating at an unprecedented pace
Author of the article:
Joanne Lee-Young
Publishing date:
Jan 11, 2021 • Last Updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
Detached home sales in greater Vancouver for December were up 70 per cent year-on-year at 1,034, just off the record high of 1,131 in December 2015 when prices were inflating at an unprecedented pace.PHOTO BY ARLEN REDEKOP /PNG
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Mayur Arora just sold a detached home in Surrey’s Fraser Heights for $115,000 over the ask price of $1.3 million. The real estate agent showed another in the Sullivan area to 47 people over two days, interest he thinks might net a sale of more than $100,000 over the $1.7 million asking price.
These are not artificially lowered asking prices like the ones some agents set to bring in a flurry of bids, explained Arora. “There are just not many homes.”
Vancouver real estate: Low supply behind price increases for detached homes
Increased borrowing power due to low interest rates is enabling more buyers to trade up and go for properties with more space, he added.
Detached home sales in greater Vancouver for December were up 70 per cent year-on-year at 1,034, just off the record high of 1,131 in December 2015 when prices were inflating at an unprecedented pace, according to Vancouver realtor Steve Saretsky.
Saretsky writes the “best predictor of prices” for detached homes is “months of inventory.’ Prices rise when months of inventory goes below four months and it is now at a paltry 2.7 months.
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Analyst and real estate agent Dane Eitel said one important nuance to see is that in 2015, the inventory of detached homes in Greater Vancouver was 57,308, but there were 17,372 sales. In 2020, the inventory was 50,225 homes, but there were only 10,832 sales, which is down 15 per cent from the 15-year average of 12,748.
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Between 2005 to 2019, the total yearly inventory average was 70, 082. So in 2015, the inventory number was 18 per cent lower than the 15-year average, but in 2020, it was 28 per cent lower.
It means the increase in home values in 2020 was less about sales and demand — and even interest rates, which were also low in 2015 — and more about a scarcity of inventory, said Eitel.
The difference could be important if home prices edge back up to 2016 levels even though “the economy is not recovering nearly as fast as the housing market would indicate.”
The COVID-19 vaccine might ease health concerns for sellers who are currently happy to hold their detached homes. They might be motivated to list their homes and take the gains if prices continue to rise spurred on by low inventory that is so historically low, it will take some time to ease, said Eitel.
The seller of one of a Surrey home recently sold by Arora, for example, is moving to Vernon, where he can permanently work from home. “He’s cashing out.”
Vancouver real estate agent Les Twarog said there are “hot” micro markets for detached homes, such as one for homes under $1.5 million in East Vancouver and another for homes under $2.5 million on the west side, where there are some multiple offers and over ask sales.
But it’s certainly not the boom of 2016, 2017 and 2018 when “you might get $300,000 or $400,000 over ask on a $2 million listing,” he said.
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B.C. Assessment quietly updates 2020 valuations, showing big increases for property owners
Sample shows City of Vancouver detached home values up between five and 10 per cent — and more in Surrey
Author of the article:
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Publishing date:
Jan 04, 2021 • Last Updated 9 minutes ago • 3 minute read
The Balmoral Hotel on the 100-block of East Hastings is one of the few properties that saw a drop in value in 2020, due to its building having no value.PHOTO BY ARLEN REDEKOP /PNG
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The B.C. Assessment Authority has updated its online record of property valuations for 2020 without the usual fanfare.
Traditionally around New Year’s Day the Crown corporation issues a media release showing the percentage increases in values across different residential property types in different parts of B.C. — plus the total assessed value of all residential property in the province. In July 2019, it was $1.41 trillion (1,000 billion equals one trillion.)
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This year — so far — BCAA has only posted a Dec. 31 note on Twitter stating “Your 2021 property assessment will be available soon. While front-counter (in person) services at our offices are currently suspended, our phones are open starting Monday from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. to answer your questions!”
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Which is surprising, because 2020 has been a bizarre and totally miscalculated year for B.C. real estate — with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation saying in April that prices could fall up to 19 per cent in 2020, and sales would likely plunge due to COVID-19.
In fact, across Canada residential property prices have jumped 20 per cent in 2020, and it was a record year for sales.
This was driven primarily by further drops in interest rates due to Bank of Canada policy.
Last year, on Jan. 2, a BCAA press release reported general declines of around 10 per cent in property values across the Lower Mainland. The City of Vancouver saw the average assessed value for a single detached home fall 15 per cent, while Whistler and Pemberton were the only standouts and saw values rise.
The assessment roll as at July 1, 2019 wont reflect the continued price increases in the region since then.
Here’s a few things that can be discerned from the latest:
CHIP’S HOUSE GOES UP
Lululemon founder Chip Wilson’s Point Grey Road home remains the most valuable in B.C., climbing $1.88 million to $66.8 million. This jump would be relatively meaningless to Wilson, given the value of his Lululemon stock rose around $1.5 billion between July 2019 and July 2020 (based on 12 million shares.)
It’s awful to think of the income disparities that have emerged during COVID-19: as Peter Garrett said “the rich get richer, the poor get the picture.”
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CITIES OF SURREY AND VANCOUVER SEE CLIMBS
Last year’s BCAA release showed the average value of a City of Vancouver detached home had fallen 11 per cent, compared to three per cent in the City of Surrey.
In Vancouver, it went from $1.755 million on July 1, 2018, to $1.568 million as of July 2019.
A sample today of random Vancouver detached homes (on Renfrew and Fraser streets and West King Edward Avenue) showed value rises of between five and 10 per cent.
In Surrey, a sample of homes on Old Yale Road, Stewart Road and 67A Avenue showed a valuation rise of at least 10 per cent.
DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE SAHOTA HOTELS VALUED FOR LAND ONLY
In early December the City of Vancouver bought two dilapidated hotels across the road from each other on the 100-block of East Hastings Street in the Downtown Eastside. The city won’t reveal how much they paid for the Regent and Balmoral hotels — to a family they battled for years over dreadful housing conditions. The Tyee has reported the sale price as $11.5 million.
The two eight-storey properties were built before the First World War — Balmoral in 1908 and the Regent in 1913 — and are now almost all land value (with a lot size of 50 by 122 feet). The city has promised it will be converted to supported housing.
The assessed value of both dropped between July 2019 and July 2020 by around 25 per cent to $2.6 million for the Balmoral and $2.5 million for the Regent, almost all in land value.
The Brandiz hotel on the same block was built around the same time as the Regent and Balmoral on the same size lot and has a five-storey building. It has been valued at over $10 million for the past two assessment periods. Most recently, the value of the Brandiz land fell to $2.5 million, while the buildings increased in value by $600,000.
Brandiz is classed by BCAA as a “beer parlour/hotel” the same as the Regent and Balmoral and is owned by Antonietta and Mario Laudisio. That would make the Balmoral and Regent with working rooms worth $20 million. The city will have to put a lot of work into them, and they could be retained as is, or the whole thing could be demolished and a new facility built.
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The bursting of the bubble is going to be epic. Like in 1930's, bodies will be falling from the sky.
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A real estate sold sign is shown in a Toronto west end neighbourhood May 17, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy
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TORONTO -- If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines of the real estate market with a chunk of savings hoping for house prices to plummet, 2021 probably won’t be your year, Canadian real estate market experts say.
The COVID-19 pandemic didn’t devastate Canada’s hottest housing markets the way some forecasters predicted. In fact, in cities like Toronto and Vancouver, fierce competition for detached houses meant back-to-back months of record-breaking prices.
CTVNews.ca chatted with real estate agents and experts in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal to get their predictions for where the market is headed. While each expert expects 2021’s market to look a little different, they all anticipate that prices for mid-range detached homes will only go up as more Canadians seek out home offices and backyards to make life with COVID-19 a little more comfortable.
Ultra-low interest rates, introduced in the early days of the pandemic, are making those purchases particularly attractive for first-time buyers who haven’t seen their livelihoods jeopardized by COVID-19.
“COVID has made people appreciate the space that they live in — or on the flip side, not appreciate it,” Vancouver-based agent Mark Wiens told CTVNews.ca earlier in December. “They’re taking a more critical eye to where they live.”
While bidding wars for houses are poised to heat up in many parts of the country, condos are a different story. All the experts agreed that small one-bedroom condos in downtown cores have already seen a price hit in 2020, and these prices aren’t expected to quickly rebound in early 2021.
That’s bad news for condo owners looking to sell, but possibly good news for anyone keen to buy a small space in hopes that, eventually, the perks of downtown living will return.
TORONTO: RECORD HOUSE PRICES, BUT CONDOS STRUGGLING
The Toronto real estate market has shown no signs of slowing down. Agents sold a record-breaking 10,563 homes in October, a 25-per-cent increase from the year prior. The same month, the average price for detached homes jumped to $1,204,844, a 14.8-per-cent increase from October 2019.
Lauren Haw, CEO of Zoocasa, a real estate agency that offers market analysis, said a big reason for that surge was pent-up demand from the early months of the pandemic, when many buyers and sellers froze.
"Everybody locked in their homes discovered the things they wanted to change. Some people wanted to change their homes, invest in a bigger kitchen. Some other people decided, ‘I want a big change, I’m going to move out of the city,’” she said.
That’s translated into a “small-town revival,” Haw said, with cities and towns throughout southern Ontario seeing fierce competition for houses.
“We will see that trend continue to happen,” Haw said. “People who said, ‘I'm gonna buy this $600,000 one-bedroom condo in downtown Toronto,’ are now saying, ‘I can work from home in Barrie, Ancaster, Guelph or London.’ And people in London are doing the same and moving to Strathroy and Woodstock.”
If the economy continues to recover from COVID-19 shutdowns and interest rates remain low, that will likely translate into upward pressure on housing prices, Haw said.
In October, as Toronto house prices broke records again, the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index ranked Toronto third in the world on a list of cities most at risk of experiencing a property bubble. Vancouver, the only other city on the list, ranked eighth.
Haw doesn’t expect the bubble to burst in 2021.
“I don’t see a price correction coming in 2021. That being said, it’s been 30 years since a major correction in the Toronto real estate market,” she said.
"But this pandemic didn’t do it. What’s it going to take? I don’t know what it will be that will drive the Toronto market into price decline.”
Where she does expect to see prices suffer is in one-bedroom condos, particularly in buildings downtown with a high proportion of renters and Airbnbs. Condo sales fell 8.5 per cent in the city of Toronto in October, with far less interest in smaller units in the densely populated core.
“I don’t think we’re currently at the bottom of condo prices, so I do think urban condo prices will continue to suffer in Q1,” Haw said, adding that a vaccine could change that.
“I’d hope that means service centres start to recover, the economy starts to rebound, businesses rebound, everyone runs to their local restaurants, which will be good for the economy, so we see renters come back to the city. If renters come back, we won’t see investors need to sell off one-bedroom condos.”
VANCOUVER: ‘AN INCREDIBLE YEAR’
Vancouver remains a seller’s market, according to the chairwoman of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. In November, the benchmark price of a Vancouver home hit $1,044,000, up 5.8 per cent from November 2019. The number of sales passed 3,000 for the first time since 2015, which marked the second-best November in the last 10 years.
In one word, 2020 has been “incredible,” according to Vancouver agent Mark Wiens.
“Except for April and May, we’ve seen huge year-over-year increases in the number of sales each month,” Wiens said.
For 2021, Wiens said he expects to see the prices of houses continue to rise at high levels, with all the time spent at home this winter giving people more time to reconsider their living situations.
“There is momentum going on and it’s not going break up any time soon,” he said.
Vancouver’s housing market has long been supported by foreign buyers. When COVID-19 arrived and the border shut down, there were concerns that the housing market could be rattled.
Simply put, that didn’t happen, Wiens said.
“People believed the market was solely fuelled by foreign buyers, that things would collapse because of travel restrictions … it hasn’t changed anything at all,” he said.
Similar to Toronto, Vancouver’s downtown condo market has taken a hit, with a three-per-cent decrease year over year in prices.
Wiens said that presents an opportunity for buyers.
“What I’m telling all my buyers is to buy downtown immediately, if you’ve considering it,” he said.
“If you think about the downtown market, what makes it great is the lifestyle, restaurants, bars clubs, that stuff is shut down and it’s going to come back and it’s going to come back hard.”
While the market for houses will likely remain competitive in early 2021, the first few months of the year could be the time to find a deal for downtown condos, Wiens said.
“So you’ll still be looking at a discount if you buy downtown in March 2021, I believe,” Wiens said.
As for a price collapse, Wiens agrees that 2021 isn’t the year, pointing to the high demand.
“A bubble burst is not imminent. It's just not going to happen. It’s really not.”
Calgary-based agent Justin Havre pointed out that the average price for detached homes is flat in Calgary, at 0.74 per cent higher than in 2019. Fewer houses are being listed, with inventory down about 12 per cent.
The reason Calgary is facing challenges has a lot to do with the oil industry, Havre said.
“We experienced a bit of a double whammy because we’re very reliant on the energy sector here in Calgary, and we’ve been in a downturn since 2014, 2015 when oil prices collapsed. And so when they collapsed again, we were like, ‘Come on.’”
Based on economic indicators, such as Alberta having the second-highest unemployment rate in the country, Havre said he’s surprised the market is doing as well as it is.
“It’s very interesting that we’re seeing the activity that we’re seeing, and we’re pleasantly surprised,” he said.
The biggest drop in prices has been seen in the downtown condo market and luxury real estate over $1 million, Havre said. In one case, a house that sold for $11 million a few years ago sold in 2020 for $6 million -- a staggering drop that Havre said suggests luxury buyers are simply not interested in making a move.
Looking ahead, he expects 2021 will be another tough for Calgary, with more struggling homeowners facing foreclosure in the first half of the year.
“The writing is on the wall with 21 per cent of mortgages being deferred. Many of those people deferred them because of loss of jobs,” he said. “If they haven’t been able to find employment, and then they haven’t been able to sell their property, foreclosure may be the unfortunate circumstance for some people.”
As for opportunities to buy, Havre echoed the sentiment that condos in the downtown core will likely see reduced prices for a little while.
“There will be some great opportunities for buyers in the downtown area,” he said. “But the pandemic has really made people think long and hard about what it's like to live in apartment buildings. Do they feel comfortable living in such high-density environments when we are still in a pandemic?”
MONTREAL: VACCINE COULD COOL PRICES
Montreal saw a major jump among all property types in 2020, with the city seeing a 32-per-cent leap in residential sales in November 2020 compared to November 2019. Median prices also jumped, with single-family homes up 17 per cent and condos up 14 per cent.
A limited supply of houses on the market helped fuel that price rally, with more buyers desperate for extra space competing for fewer properties, according to Montreal-based real estate agent Georges Bardagi.
The pandemic is also pushing people outside city centres, he said.
“So they say, ‘Why pay $500,000 for a 500-square-foot condo when for the same price I can have a pool, a basement office, and I don’t have to commute to the city anymore?’” he said.
Montreal’s condo market is a bit of an outlier, Bardagi said, compared to cites like Toronto and Vancouver. Prices in Montreal haven’t seen the same drop in price because Montreal simply doesn’t have the same number of condos.
“It’s still very much a growing market,” he said. “The demand for condos downtown has slowed down like everywhere else, but I think the effect is probably smaller in Montreal.”
While the emergence of the pandemic was expected to knock down housing prices, Bardagi suggested that, now, the opposite is true: as vaccines are introduced and the economy returns to normal, he suspects more people will feel comfortable listing their houses. With more properties on the market, housing prices should stabilize, he says.
“We expect Q1 and Q2 to be more of the same until a vaccine comes in and we come back to a somewhat more regular situation, which will probably be in the summer or next fall,” he said.
One factor that could make a major difference is when Canada decides to reopen the borders. Bardagi said he anticipates a surge of foreign buyers who’ve been waiting in the wings will flood the market.
“If that happens in the second half of 2021 or the first half of 2022, it’ll be a game changer,” he said. “There will be planes full of people who want to move here and buy here.”
Bardagi said it can sometimes be easy to forget how attractive life in Canada can be to outsiders, and that a new wave of international buyers could throw gasoline on an already burning real estate market.
“Besides winter and road construction, it’s a great place to live.”
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B.C. housing market to remain vibrant through the new year: report
Brian Yu, Central 1 deputy chief economist, authored the report and calls B.C.’s ongoing pandemic recovery a “mix of short-term challenges and future optimism.”
Author of the article:
The Canadian Press
Publishing date:
Dec 21, 2020 • Last Updated 11 hours ago • 1 minute read
A company that supports hundreds of credit unions across Canada predicts British Columbia’s housing market will remain healthy through 2021 as the province moves out of its COVID-19 slump.PHOTO BY ASHLEY FRASER/POSTMEDIA NEWS FILES
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A company that supports hundreds of credit unions across Canada predicts British Columbia’s housing market will remain healthy through 2021 as the province moves out of its COVID-19 slump.
A report from Central 1, the organization that handles financial services, digital banking and other resources for more than 250 credit unions, says B.C. has seen a “spectacular” rebound in housing demand since pandemic-induced lows in the spring.
The report says affordability remains a focus, as median home prices are up nine per cent this year to $585,000 and are forecast to climb a further six per cent to $618,000 in 2021.
It says the number of homes sold in B.C. leaped 20 per cent this year, overcoming the pandemic downturn, and up to 95,000 properties could change hands next year, nudging market highs set in 2017.
It credits the surge to “unique characteristics” of pandemic economics, ongoing low interest rates and higher-paid workers remaining relatively unscathed from the worst of the COVID-19 contractions.
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The report also forecasts a firmer rental market through 2022 as economic conditions normalize, border restrictions ease and post-secondary institutions reopen.
But it says rents shouldn’t budge much over the coming year, while a provincially imposed rent freeze is in effect.
Brian Yu, Central 1 deputy chief economist, authored the report and calls B.C.’s ongoing pandemic recovery a “mix of short-term challenges and future optimism.”
“Economic growth is forecast to pick up steam in the second quarter of 2021 onwards as the vaccine drives higher investment spending and consumer spending is unleashed when social and travel restrictions are eased,” Yu writes.
Some job loss will continue in B.C.’s “fragile sectors,” Yu says.
Even though employment remains 1.5 per cent lower than it did in February, he says the province is outperforming most others and sectors such as retail spending, manufacturing, and exports are “largely recovered.”
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5 HRS AGO
Vancouver's real estate market will remain vibrant because international drug money still needs to be laundered and Vancouver real estate is one of the best places to put it. This is because we have marshmallow governments that don't have the cojones to do anything about banning foreign ownership of real estate. The endless immigration and real estate speculation has turned a once pleasant city into an overcrowded boring place with all the ambience of an Alberta feedlot.
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6 HRS AGO
keep that dark money rolling in !
7 HRS AGO
Biased data garbage from a company that fully depends on the purchase of houses by its indirect clients. Plenty of conflict of interest was added to create a powerful flavour. Manure flavour; that is.
P.S. I love these dead-on-arrival articles that are so easy to debunk. Keep them coming, as they are great mini lessons for the masses who learn how to put their shield up against a vast variety of germs and pests.
10 HRS AGO
Brian Yu Quoted: "Even though employment remains 1.5 per cent lower than it did in February, he says the province is outperforming most others and sectors such as retail spending, manufacturing, and exports are “largely recovered.”
Translated that means BC employment has recovered to 98 percent of pre-pandemic levels as I posted earlier. So much for the bs allegations from the straw men who ignore facts.
The tourism/accommodation sectors always report a "high" structural unemployment rate because summer tourism shuts down anyways for the winter. Many of those displaced workers are not sitting on their hands. They obviously have found employment in other sectors such as healthcare, education, etc., which explains why BC's employment recovery is the best in Canada. EDITED
12 HRS AGO
I guess the housing collapse theorists and other bubble heads hoping for a collapse will again claim the opposite. EDITED
9 HRS AGO
But....but.....billy boy ferguloserson said the market is crashing!!!!
I trust billy boy!!!he knows best!!!!
6 HRS AGO
Anyone listening to that guy is doing themselves a serious disservice.
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People wanted bigger and more spacious homes. Plus, interest rates went down to rock bottom. Also, people have more savings because they can’t travel and do many of the things they did before.
As a result, home prices increased.
In November 2020, the value of a typical single-detached residence in East Vancouver rose to $1,533,600.
On the west side of Vancouver, homes of the same type saw benchmark increasing to $3,122,100.
Across the Fraser River, the price of a typical home in Surrey also increased in November 2020. It rose to $1,156,800.
The Straight recently asked Hutchinson about interesting listings of any type of homes,whether it’s a mansion, detached home, townhouse or condo, as the residential market continues to sizzle.
Interestingly, he came back with a number of single-detached homes priced in the neigbourhood of $1 million.
“Detached homes around the magic one-million mark are still available in Metro Vancouver,” Hutchinson said.
This means one thing for those wishing to have a single-detached home.
“There's still affordability in the detached market,” Hutchinson said.
But there’s a condition.
“That is, if you don't mind putting a little elbow grease into it, and getting your hands dirty,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson cited 2135 Triumph Street. It’s on the market for $928,000. It’s a reduced price from its original listing of $999,900.
The East Vancouver single-detached home has four bedrooms and two baths. The 1926-era home was built on small lot with a frontage of 24.75 feet. A standard city has a 33-feet frontage.
Hutchinson said that the home is in a good location near Commercial Drive, transit, and parks.
The realtor and avid market observer also found 3824 Knight Street. The detached Vancouver home is selling for $1,050,000. It has six bedrooms and four baths.
Another example is 3280 East Georgia Street. It’s priced at $1,098,800. The freestanding home has three bedrooms and one bath.
“You have to look around for them, and when you find one that's suitlable it may need some TLC [tender loving care] or maintenance,” Hutchinson said.
Owning a detached home is unlike having a condo. With a condo, an owner can call the property manager if there are problems with the apartment.
“With a detached house, you are the property manager,” Hutchinson said.
3280 East Georgia Street is priced $1,098,800.
There are also options east of Boundary Road.
A detached home at 2505 Larkin Court in Burnaby is on the market for $999,000.
Another example is 3735 Parker Street, also in Burnaby. It’s listed for $827,000.
Further east is New Westminster.
A good example is the detached home at 531 Fourteenth Street in New Westminster. The residence features seven bedrooms and three baths. The home sits on a large lot with a 66-feet frontage.
This seven-bedroom, three-bath single-detached home at 531 Fourteenth Street is on the market for $1,125,800.
As always, buyers have a choice of what kind of home they will purchase.
“Do you want 489-square-feet of prestigious luxury at Alberni by Kengo Kuma?” Hutchinson said, referring to a Vancouver high-rise condo development currently under construction. The Westbank Corp. project on Alberni Street was designed by Kengo Kuma, a famous Japanese architect.
“Or,” Hutchinson continued, “would you rather have a fixer upper detached house in the suburbs?”
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