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February 2019 Vancouver Condo Real Estate Statistics Yaletown Downtown by Ian Watt


Blog by Ian Watt | March 2nd, 2019



Things are looking great for buyers because its official, we are now in a Buyer’s Market!!! The market has switched to a “Buyer’s Market” as there is a large surplus of condos for sale and only 1 in 10 condos are actually selling in Downtown Vancouver.

Some good news for sellers. Those who are listening to their realtors and pricing their homes correctly are selling on average in 17 days, some sell in 1 day and some in 34, which is still very strong. However, those other 90% of condos that are not priced correctly are just sitting, not selling and just losing value.

As some condos over $2 million have sold in February, the median price actually went up 15%. However, don’t get too excited, the median price has increased because prices in general are falling. Just to prove what the market is actually doing, please have look at the links below.

2 Sales at the Icon in Yaletown ONE MONTH APART

$2,233,888 in January and $2,065,000 in February. Please note 1903 selling 15% below assessed value. 

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=2bf9ec33-65e5-41a3-bf15-69c5dbdaab2e&Report=Yes

2 Sales at Electric Avenue in Downtown Vancouver

One 1 bedroom sold for $818,000 in 2018 and the other for $650,000 in 2019. Unit 1916 sold 11% under assessed value.

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=4f59a21f-8396-4139-8405-894acaae7b1f&Report=Yes

2 sales in the Spectrum Towers

These same units in sister buildings sold for $870,000 in 2018 and $748,000 in 2019. Unit 3001 sold 14% under assessed value.

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=655f45c9-db69-4d04-8402-3554ca20e22a&Report=Yes

503 - 535 Nicola

This luxury Coal Harbour condo was purchased for $3.9 in 2014 and the owner has tried to sell it 6 times from $7,988,000 and its now down to $5.3 and not sold. The assessed value is $5,745,000. They are ASKING 8% below assessed value. Stay tuned.

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=79cf8717-3048-4a0b-953e-90c9af0dc58a&Report=Yes

1033 Marinaside Crescent 

Unit 1006 sold for $2,355,000 in April 2018 and 2907 sold for $1,900,000 in 2019 and this had 2 parking! Unit 2907 sold 12% under the assessed value.

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=5b1da996-f7fe-410c-b188-cd2d393efab4&Report=Yes

In Yaletown, 306 - 1560 Homer Mews sold for $3,520,000 which is a million dollars or 23% below its assessed value. It took 135 days.

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=8b54c3e8-b1e0-46d2-9a45-73aab191a03a&Report=Yes 

Houses always lead the and dictate the market, and condos seem to follow the trend one year behind. Here are some housing examples. 

In Richmond, 5611 Cathay was purchased in 2015 for $2,580,000. They tried to flip it for $4.3 million, $3.7, $3.48, $3.18, $2.98 and eventually it sold last week for $2,522,000. Cathay sold 14% under assessed value. 

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=3ff251bc-4e5a-4422-a6aa-1c79081778c6&Report=Yes 

On the Westside, 2149 West 35th Avenue was purchased in 2014 for $3,150,000. They tried to flip it for $5,188,000, $4,188,000, $3,988,000, $3,288,000 and it just sold for $2,880,000. Selling 26% under assessed value.

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=5108aeae-9017-442b-8823-646926c03d2e&Report=Yes 

Michael Buble bought this house in 2007 for $4,550,000 and after almost 12 years of owning the West Vancouver house and with significant upgrades, he sold his home for $5,180,000 which after completion costs, upgrades and selling costs he definitely took a loss. Buble sold his home 28% under assessed value. 

https://bcres.paragonrels.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=b83c221b-d82e-42a7-ac83-15d05da189d7&Report=Yes 

If you take an average of all these random sales from various neighbourhoods, the average sale is 16% below assessed value. 

Focusing on the SnapStats packages attached, as always, the sellers best bets are studios and one bedrooms in Yaletown, Downtown and the West End. These will always be sought after by end users as well as investors. The buyers’ best bets are units between $900,000 and $1,000,000 or basically anything over $5 million.

The median price in Downtown Vancouver increased 15% from January 2019 to $845,000 but is down 11% from the peak in January 2018.

The average price per square foot is up 4% at $1,099 per square foot.


There were 92 sales (4.6 per day) in Downtown Vancouver in February which was down 50% from February 2018.

As mentioned 90% of the listings are overpriced and will not sell. The 10% of the inventory that are priced correctly units that are selling are selling 3% off the asking price. 

Active listings in Downtown Vancouver are up 21% (823 active listings) from the month before and up 121% from February 2018 (373 active listings). 

Just an interesting note, West Vancouver houses are a great deal. Although there were pretty much the same number of sales in February 2019 (25) as February 2018 (24), and inventory is almost the same, February 2019 (445) as February 2018 (437), the median price has dropped from $2,855,000 to $2,043,800 which is a 28% drop. The price per square foot is now $638 which is getting close to the Richmond price per square foot of $574. Great deals if you are looking.

As we see luxury houses return down to 2014 and 2015 prices, my prediction if nothing changes in our economic environment, luxury condos will follow suit. 

I hope you find this helpful, but should you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Sincerely,

Ian