Bungalows lead house-price surge
ROYAL LEPAGE SURVEY: Median cost in Metro rose by 25.7 per cent over the last year
The average house price in Metro Vancouver rose by 21.6 per cent on the past 12 months to $1,044,750, according to a survey by Royal LePage
But bungalows saw the sharpest increase, with the median yearover-year price rising 25.7 per cent to $1,116,136. By comparison, twostorey homes rose 23.6 per cent to $1,418,231 and condominiums, which includes townhouses in the survey, saw the slowest price growth at 9.5 per cent to $487,300. The reason? “Most bungalows are older properties, so things ripe for development are those 1950s and ’60s homes that haven’t yet been rebuilt,” said Alan Steward, regional manager of Royal LePage Sussex.
“They’re sitting on prime real estate, so they’re seeing more increases in value when a developer is looking at building a new house.”
The city of Vancouver saw the highest year-over-year increase in bungalow prices of 32.9 per cent to $1.3 million, while Langley saw the lowest increase of 4.9 per cent to $559,000.
Stewart said prices in the metro regional are at “previously unseen levels” and sales are at an all-time high with a marked lack of inventory leading many to look at condominium options in order to stay within the city limits.
“We are also seeing a growing trend of residents leveraging the current high-price environment as a means to retire early, cashing out and moving to the more affordable neighbouring regions.”
According to the survey, metro region’s real estate market outpaced the rest of the nation by a wide margin and saw significant growth in the first three months of the year.
Stewart said that although condos haven’t seen prices rise as much, the pressure is mounting especially with people cashing out of their detached homes and downsizing.
Many are also moving farther away from the downtown core to Fraser Valley, the Sunshine Coast and Squamish.
“Squamish is boiling,” Stewart said. “There’s very little product there and anything that comes on the market is shooting up significantly.”
The price of a home in Canada increased 7.9 per cent year over year to $512,621 in the first quarter of 2016, the survey noted, with Greater Toronto seeing an 8.7 per cent year-over-year increase in bungalows to $603,400. Unlike Vancouver, two-storey homes in Toronto saw a steeper increase of 9.3 per cent to $724,900.