Vancouver for Homes Monthly Newsletter

Welcome to our newsletter on Vancouver’s real estate market. We are here to help you buy or sell real estate in the Greater Vancouver area and through our partners in many areas of B.C.

February 2008

HOW TO FIND YOUR NEW HOME

Sue and I specialize in working with buyers, mostly those from out of the Province. This article suggests ways that can help you when you come to look for a new home.

WHAT DO YOU WANT?

This is always the best place to start. Think about your new home. We suggest that you think about what you absolutely must have and, if you like lists make one! Have another list for what you would like as opposed to what you need.

For example.

• NEED
  • 3 bedrooms
  • 1 bathroom
  • Garage for 1 vehicle
• WANT
  • 2 bathrooms
  • Double garage
  • Recreation room or basement

Consider factors that relate to the area too. Do you need to be in a particular school catchment area, or have transit available nearby? What amenities do you want in the area - sports facilities, shops, etc?

Time spent imagining your new home and the environment in which sits is usually well spent. I don’t think we could quantify this, but it will generally result in your being able to locate something that works for you. The only issue is when there is a disconnect between your needs and wants and reality - hint: there are no waterfront houses available for $500,000, at least not here!

USE THE POWER OF THE INTERNET

The internet is a real benefit for our out of Province buyers since it allows them to get an idea of an area and the real estate that is there. Our web site, with it’s MLS searches and information is part of this. We believe it is a really good place to start.

In addition we recommend that you research more than just the real estate. The internet lets you look at satellite pictures (eg Google maps) and search for information on schools, amenities and the like.

FORGET THE INTERNET

The internet cannot tell you the character of the neighbourhood and how you will react to it on an emotional level. We are often asked for good family neighbourhoods or nice community feel. A search in Google will not help here. You have to get out and about and see the places.

We know from experience that people’s expectations of an area can end up too high and the inevitable disappointment can be hard for people to take. This applies to homes as well. We recently had a client ask to see a home that “ticked all the boxes” - but when they walked in, they didn’t even want to look beyond the first room.

GET HELP

Buying a home is a major, probably one of the biggest purchases of your life. While you can do a lot of running around yourself, we strongly recommend that you get a buyer’s agent to help you. Of course we hope it will be us (in our area) or one of our partners, but if not we still recommend that you get someone to help you.

As buyer’s agents we will look for suitable property for you. This means that we use the internet, but with access to information not publicly available, we have the ability to screen properties in more detail. We also make appointments for you to see suitable properties and accompany on viewing’s. Once you have found somewhere that you want, we draw up an offer and negotiate on your behalf. Our expertise is there for you exclusively - we are duty bound to represent your best interests since we are your agent in the purchase. This is a critical relationship and is the key reason that you need a buyer’s agent.

REAL ESTATE MARKET

JANUARY SEES MOVE TOWARD A BALANCED MARKET

During January we saw a marginal increase in overall sales (0.7%) compared to last year. However there was a much larger increase in the number of listings (14.9%) over January of 2007. When the growth in listings outpacing sales we can hope for a swing away from the seller’s market and toward a more balanced one.

Anecdotally, we are still seeing strong competition for some listings and have qualified buyers actively chasing good properties. The market is never even and you can expect such competition in the pinch points - ones which attract a lot of interest, such as the lowest priced detached homes, new properties or substantial renovations.

One concern often expressed is to do with affordability. We have noted before that inward migration and BC’s strong economy tend to offset this issue. The fact that two of the region’s most expensive areas, West Vancouver (30.9%) and Vancouver West (24.4%) , both recorded very high percentage price growth over the last year, suggests that there is still money available for these upscale areas.

Squamish, while not yet an upscale area, showed the second highest increase (27.1%) - something which can be put down to the Olympic effect and, more importantly, the upgrades to the Sea to Sky highway. This area has seen big new developments selling well. The downtown waterfront regeneration is generating significant investment prompted.

METRO VANCOUVER BENCHMARK

The Vancouver Real Estate Board publishes a benchmark that tracks the price of a benchmark property across the region. There are three categories:

• Detached
  These are houses, sometimes called single family homes
• Attached
  This refers to townhouses and half duplexes.
• Apartments
  This means apartments within high or low rise buildings.

I have set out the benchmark prices across the region, with the annual percentage price rises in brackets.

DETACHED BENCHMARK PRICES

• Greater Vancouver $742,490 (15.7%)
• Burnaby $736,003 (13.3%)
• Coquitlam $659,601 (14.8%)
• South Delta $649,266 (11.6%)
• Maple Ridge $457,522 (11.9%)
• New Westminster $539,985 (12.4%)
• North Vancouver $903,240 (21%)
• Pitt Meadows $454,858 (0.3%)
• Port Coquitlam $550,243 (20.9%)
• Port Moody $633,837 (-6.7%)
• Richmond $721,193 (10.7%)
• Squamish $567,896 (27.1%)
• Sunshine Coast $421,942 (7.7%)
• Vancouver East $665,328 (14.6%)
• Vancouver West $1405,945 (24.4%)
• West Vancouver $1489,071 (30.9%)

ATTACHED BENCHMARK PRICES

• Greater Vancouver $462,627 (12.4%)
• Burnaby $449,677 (14.2%)
• Coquitlam $421,057 (10.2%)
• South Delta $455,193 (21.9%)
• Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows $315,290 (10.6%)
• North Vancouver $591,443 (12.2%)
• Port Coquitlam $392,064 (12.3%)
• Port Moody $398,686 (10.3%)
• Richmond $452,420 (10.9%)
• Vancouver East $485,221 (12.3%)
• Vancouver West $698,836 (15.6%)

APARTMENT BENCHMARK PRICES

• Greater Vancouver $378,336 (13.8%)
• Burnaby $338,885 (15.7%)
• Coquitlam $291,946 (12.4%)
• South Delta $337,668 (14.3%)
• Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows $250,387 (7%)
• New Westminster $288,292 (10.5%)
• North Vancouver $380,417 (8.7%)
• Port Coquitlam $253,959 (12.3%)
• Port Moody $286,117 (4.8%)
• Richmond $307,532 (11.8%)
• Vancouver East $317,117 (15.8%)
• Vancouver West $490,101 (15.9%)
• West Vancouver $627,610 (14.3%)

TIME TO BUY OR SELL

If you are looking to buy or sell property then we can help you. We work for you either as a buyer’s agent, to help you find your next property, or as a listing agent. If we cannot help you personally we have excellent partners in most areas within B.C. We and our partners are licensed realtors with the experience and knowledge to help you make your next move a success. Call us to find out how we can help you now.

And remember if you introduce someone to us you will receive a referral fee when they buy.