REAL ESTATE
Home ownership not the pipe dream it often seems
W
by Carlito Pablo
hen it comes to housing in Vancouver, many believe that affordability has long left the building. So if that’s the case, why even bother talking about it? As realtor Adam Major explains in a phone interview with the Straight, it’s because people require homes, no matter what. “Individuals need to look at what is affordable for them and decide what they want to do,” Major said. They can either buy or rent, and that’s entirely up to them. “It’s okay to be a renter,” noted Major, who is a managing broker with Holywell Properties. Now for those looking to buy, there are neighbourhoods in and around Vancouver that may be considered as pockets of affordability. The Straight asked Major to identify some of these areas because of his access to granular data. In addition to his title of managing broker, he is also the cofounder and CEO of Holywell Properties’ real-estate information site, Zealty.ca. To digress a bit, Zealty started in 2006 as a virtual map of homes for sale on the Sunshine Coast, where the brokerage is based. Major’s colleague, Gary Little, wrote the computer program. Little is also a realtor and he previously worked in Silicon Valley. He cofounded Zealty with Major, and serves as its chief technology officer. The map has since grown into a rich online resource, which includes listings and sold properties, as well as fine-grained data like price per square foot, days on the market, and so on. Zealty uses data from the real estate boards of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, and the Chilliwack district. The site is updated several times a day. To zero in on these pockets of housing affordability, Major used median price or the middle point for prices as main parameter. “Median price gives you the broadest sense of what’s happening in that neighbourhood and what can you buy in that neighbourhood,” he explained in the phone interview. He also separated detached homes from condos or apartments, because if one combines these two types of properties, this will make a big difference in overall median price. For the search, Major looked at all sales from January to September 2021. And so, the area with the lowest median price is where buyers may want to look into, if affordability is what they are after.
VANCOUVER
For the West Side of Vancouver, Major said that the most affordable neighbourhood 4
THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT
Areas like Collingwood, which is home to Rupert Street, are among the last affordable real-estate pockets in Vancouver. Photo by Janet McDonald.
Main Street is now $885,000–thank the hipsters. – Adam Major
for condos or apartments is Marpole. It has a median price of $653,000 as of September 2021. Major suggested that the best value for money is Downtown and the West End because of their location. The median apartment prices are $690,000 and $692,750, respectively. However, he observed that condo units in these two places are generally smaller, which does not work for families. For detached homes, the cheapest neighbourhood in the West Side of Vancouver is also Marpole, where the median price is $2,445,000. On the East Side of Vancouver, apartments or condos are most affordable in Hastings-Sunrise, with a median price of $521,500. Major noted that neighbourhoods in East Vancouver like Victoria, Killarney, Grandview, Fraserview, and Collingwood have apartments averaging less than $600,000. “Main Street is now $885,000—thank the hipsters,” Major said.
OCTOBER 21 – 28 / 2021
For detached homes in East Vancouver, Collingwood is the most affordable place, with a median price of $1,570,000. “Strathcona, which used to be an island of affordability, has gone full gentrification and is now almost $2 million for a detached home,” Major noted. BURNABY AND NEW WEST
Past Boundary Road and into Burnaby, the Zealty CEO noted that the best deal for apartments is in the Cariboo neighbourhood near the Lougheed Town Centre. The median price is $425,000. One can also look along East Hastings Street in the Capitol Hill area, where the median price is $512,000 as of September 2021. “A lot of the new buildings near Brentwood and Metrotown have the effect of pushing up the median price in those neighbourhoods,” Major noted. In Brentwood, the median price for condos is $717,000. In Metrotown, it’s $673,400. For detached homes in Burnaby, Major said that the most affordable neighbourhood is Greentree Village near BCIT. The median price is $1,398,900. Farther east, Major described New Westminster as a “good place to find an affordable home”. “It is a smaller municipality, but there are several neighbourhoods where the median price is around $450,000,” he noted. The cheapest apartments can be found in the city’s West End neighbourhood, where the median price is $380,000. Meanwhile, New Westminster’s Uptown is the best for detached homes. The
median price is $1,105,000. NORTH SHORE AND RICHMOND
The Straight also asked for Zealty data about the North Shore, which is North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. Major noted that the best deal for apartments or condos is in the Cedardale area of West Vancouver. The median price is $572,500. “For detached, nothing on the North Shore is cheap, but West Lynn is likely the best bang for your buck,” the Holywell Properties executive noted. The median price in West Lynn is $1,695,000, or $135,000 cheaper than neighbouring Lynn Valley. “And you can still ride your bike to Fromme,” Major said, referring to one of the North Shore mountains and a popular destination for hiking and biking. Richmond lies to the south of Vancouver. In Richmond’s Granville neighbourhood, Major said that the median price for an apartment is a “surprisingly affordable” $280,000. “Pro tip: if you buy an apartment on the second floor or above, you don’t have to worry about global warming,” Major joked. For detached homes, the most affordable neighbourhood in Richmond is East Cambie. The median price is $1,543,500 in this area. OUTER SUBURBS
Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody make up the Tri-Cities. “For apartments, Central Coquitlam, see next page
