Vancouver Sun

Metro housing prices surge

Royal LePage survey shows huge growth in many categories

- BRIAN MORTON bmorton@postmedia.com

Greater Vancouver saw doubledigi­t price growth across most housing types last year — particular­ly bungalows — with significan­t increases in the first quarter of 2016, according to a survey released Thursday by Royal LePage.

The survey revealed that the overall price of a home in the region escalated by an average 21.6 per cent year-over-year to $1,044,750.

But bungalows saw the sharpest increase, with the median price in Greater Vancouver rising 25.7 per cent year-over-year to $1,116,136. By comparison, two-storey 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? Bungalows are generally older and, therefore, riper for redevelopm­ent.

“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.”

Stewart said that prices across Metro Vancouver continued to swell in the first quarter “to previously unseen levels,” and that sales activity remains at an alltime 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, the overall price of a home in the Greater Vancouver real estate market saw significan­t growth in the first three months of the year, outpacing the rest of the nation by a wide margin.

Prices have reached new highs, appreciati­ng at a rate of more than 18 per cent in six of the eight regions surveyed. Burnaby, as well as North, West and Central Vancouver all saw a huge jump in overall prices, with increases of over 20 per cent year-over-year.

For bungalows, the city of Vancouver saw the highest year-overyear increase of 32.9 per cent to $1.3 million, while Langley saw the lowest increase of 4.9 per cent to $559,000.

Stewart noted 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 further away from the downtown core to Fraser Valley communitie­s, the Sunshine Coast and Squamish.

“Kerrisdale, the Kitsilano area and West Vancouver price points are getting so ridiculous that it’s squeezing most people out of those markets.

“Squamish is boiling. There’s very little product there and anything that comes on the market is shooting up significan­tly.

“We don’t have an office there, but through discussion­s with real estate agents in the area there’s nothing to sell. Anything that comes on the market that’s priced remotely close to reasonable gets multiple offers.”

Meanwhile, the survey also noted that nationally, Canada’s residentia­l real estate market showed strong year-over-year price increases in the first quarter of 2016 with the Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto Area (GTA) real estate markets leading the country in home price appreciati­on.

“Additional­ly, an emerging trend of inter-provincial migration to British Columbia and Ontario from commodity- focused economic regions such as Alberta is expected to put further upward pressure on home prices in these areas in the coming months,” the survey indicated.

The price of a home in Canada increased 7.9 per cent year-overyear 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.

 ?? JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILES ?? A survey by Royal LePage shows the overall price of a home in the Greater Vancouver region jumped 21.6 per cent year-over-year to $1,044,750.
JONATHAN HAYWARD/THE CANADIAN PRESS/FILES A survey by Royal LePage shows the overall price of a home in the Greater Vancouver region jumped 21.6 per cent year-over-year to $1,044,750.
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