Vancouver real estate: homes with killer views command premium prices, and here's why they sell well in summer - The Georgia Straight | Canada News Media
Others with deep pockets look for something extra that may seem somewhat abstract to some.
They want views, and they’re willing to pay more.
“What’s in a view?” longtime Vancouver realtor David Hutchinson asked.
Well, it seems that it means a lot.
“In Vancouver we are spoilt. We love the views. Many people that leave Vancouver come back and say they missed the mountains,” Hutchinson told the Straight.
The Point Grey area property at 4717 Drummond Drive, which is selling for $24.8 milion, provides these ocean and mountain views on both first and second floors.
But how do you put a cost on a view?
“I had a client once, the house was overpriced, and whenever I brought up a price reduction, the seller would say, ‘But what about the view?’,” Hutchinson related.
In Vancouver, there are detached homes, townhouses, and condos that feature wonderful views, and the Sutton Group-West Coast Realty agent noted that they “all come with a price tag”.
What is the premium for a view?
Hutchinson noted that it can be tricky to peg a standard price.
He cited by way of example the pricing of outdoor patios, where one can soak in view.
Let’s say there’s a 1,000-square-foot condo priced at $1,000 a square foot. The condo unit has an 800-square-foot patio. How much is the patio?
“One realtor once told me that he prices it at half the price of the square foot price of the interior space, so $500 per square foot in this case,” Hutchinson said.
Designed by Arthur Erickson, this 3281 Point Grey Road home in Kitsilano is on the market for $14.8 million.
Again, how do you price a view?
“Some buyers will insist on a view, and will sacrifice a smaller home for expansive space that a view can sometimes give,” Hutchinson said.
The Sutton Group-West Coast Realty agent once had a retired client, who sold his home in Langley, and bought a condo in New Westminster.
“He asked me, ‘Do you know why I wanted a condo here?’ I said ‘no’, and he told me he wanted a view of the Fraser River. It’s a working river, he said. There is always something to see,” Hutchinson recalled.
There is one thing to consider though, the realtor pointed out.
“It rains a lot in Vancouver, and that expensive view can disappear for the much of the year,” Hutchinson said.
That’s why it’s always easier to sell on sunny days, he said.
“It’s like a completely different city during summer” Hutchinson said.
There are areas in Vancouver that offer a lot of views.
One is False Creek.
“Why do people like False Creek? Because you get the water and view of the city from just across the water. When you’re in the city, you don’t get a view of the city, but from False Creek you get the full view of the city, water and mountains,” Hutchinson said.
There’s Yaletown.
“Yaletown has great views, and you pay for them,” Hutchinson said.
He once had a client who loved Yaletown, and the proximity to shops, parks and restaurants.
“I showed him many condos, but he insisted on facing west. He wanted the sunset view,” Hutchinson said.
Here’s the view from townhouse 112 at 1288 Marinaside Crescent in Yaletown, which is for sale at $3.2 million.
The Sutton Group-West Coast Realty agent noted that in the downtown peninsula, Coal Harbour has “always been the preferred view destination, especially for those new to the city”.
“The views of the water and mountains always impress them. In Yaletown and West End, there are some very lovely water views, but Coal Harbour gets the ocean views with the backdrop of the mountains. It’s a picture-perfect postcard,” Hutchinson said.
So for those new to Vancouver and who came from places without the mountain ranges, Coal Harbour properties are “sold”.
“In my opinion, that is why Coal Harbour can demand an extra 10 percent in pricing compared to Yaletown,” Hutchinson said.
Unit 701 at 1281 West Cordova Street in Coal Harbour is available for $8.5 million, and it has 270 degrees of breathtaking views.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
