East side is now the place to buy
Homeowners looking for something more affordable driving up prices
THE PROVINCE - 10 Jul 2013
Vancouver’s east side is bucking the B.C. real-estate trend as buyers drawn by (relative) value seek out the city’s more affordable neighbourhoods.
A new Royal LePage survey says that “standard, two-storey” detached homes on the city’s east side increased in value in the last year by 2.4 per cent — from $825,000 to $845,000 — while pricier units on Vancouver’s west side decreased by 3.1 per cent — from $1.6 million to $1.55 million.
Realtors Jacob Krause and Jacky Levi have personal experience with this trend — recently a renovated East Vancouver home on East 23rd Avenue listed at $899,000 was flooded with seven offers — and eventually sold for $1.058 million, fully $159,000 over the asking price.
“On the west side there was a spike in prices, and a lot of people sold,” said Krause, who works for RE/MAX Select Realty. “Now they’re moving to the east side. The neighbourhoods in East Van are improving — there are many more amenities.”
Krause said that while areas such as Kitsilano and Point Grey have long been considered desirable on the west side, newly trendy Main and Fraser streets are meccas for urban hipsters.
“And the builders have moved in,” said Krause. “You see a lot of renovations and new builds — that makes it more desirable.”
Levi said those who have wanted a detached home in Vancouver are setting their sights eastward.
“The west-side client who has a $700,000 condo can buy a house on the east side with a basement-suite mortgage helper, and be in the same shape financially,” said Levi. “Interest rates are so low now.”
Of course, one of the keys to affordability is mortgage rates, which are only now starting to trend up after several years at historic lows.
“I think we’ve seen the bottom,” said Helmut Pastrick, chief economist with the Central 1 Credit Union. “If I was advising people, I would say lock in a rate for the longest term possible — seven or 10 years — as long as you can afford it.”
Pastrick said the economic turnaround south of the border may fuel the mortgage-rate increase.
“The U.S. is still the largest economy in the world, and we’re clearly seeing some recovery there,” said Pastrick. “It’s a great time to lock in, as it has been for the last couple of years.”
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver says the average price of a home has declined three per cent in the last year. President Sandra Wyant says prices dropped late last year but are now starting to recover.
“There was a buyer’s market in late 2012, but we’ve seen prices edging up since then,” says Wyant. “We have seen an improvement every single month since the end of last year.”