The small-town vibes of Vancouver
I have the pleasure… sometimes… of working with two Brits, one of which worked right smack downtown London for nearly 5 years. She is constantly surprised at the real estate prices here in Vancouver and how affordable it is. Yes. I just wrote that she views Vancouver as affordable, proof backed up by her buying a Vancouver condo 3 months after her hire date landing from overseas.
Discussing the same topic with a business partner last week I was genuinely shocked to hear the largest real estate price per sqft transaction for a condo just took place in Hong Kong. 10,000 square feet was sold for the equivalent of $24,000CAD/sqft – no I’m not adding zeros for effect, that does mean they purchased that real estate for $240,000,000. Some of the highest valued condo real estate in Vancouver is selling for about $3500/sqft. Much of Vancouver, Yaletown, West End, Kits, many condos are selling for under $2000/sqft, a good amount are still selling for closer to $1000/sqft. New York & London have also seen condos sell for over $200Million, granted much larger sqft.
Our small-town mentality regarding Vancouver real estate is laughable at times but I’ll share a not so funny story. A potential new client is looking to re-enter the market. They are between 40-50 years old and sold their detached house in the past 10 years ago thinking the sky was going to fall and real estate prices were going to plummet. How many others sold real estate thinking the same? Now, because of more stringent qualifying rules and housing that has doubled (which could have been their equity position), we’re going to be lucky to get them in to an old townhouse or a new condo in the Valley.
Vancouver is, and has been for a while, on the same playing field for most sought-after places to live as Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, London, Dubai. Yet prices in Vancouver are not even close to those cities. They are literally a 10th. I illustrate this to show two things. A. The sizeable amount of wealth in the world, vast and so far beyond most people’s comprehensions. For a humorous 7 minutes watch this video of the Christie’s auction of Da Vinci’s “Jesus Christ” and B. Hang on to your real estate, all of it if you can, acquire more than a principle residence if you can and pay down your mortgage via renters or your income. While many people sit on the sidelines anticipating some form of handout or market shift we need to be encouraged and motivated to take responsibility for our own future nests and nest eggs as we should expect little to no help from anyone other than ourselves or outside economic issues.
The change in weather typically produces a significant increase in real estate activity. It happens every year, year after year and this year looks to be the same. I keep driving by new sign after sign in lawns or developments, or signs promoting land assemblies and other properties for sale. We’re here to assist in providing tailored solutions for motivated clients at our Specialist Mortgage Advisory. 99% of the time our services are compensated by lender directly, so our goal is to keep you coming back for future advice and strategies (and bring your friends, family and co workers too please!)
For an update on your current real estate plan or new plan please email our office to info@iwanttoown.ca and myself, Sam or Emma will reach out to discuss.
Speak to you soon
David Ford