What’s new in Vancouver real estate?
Planning a house-hunting trip to Vancouver? Many potential buyers from China are, too:
Mainland Chinese interest in Metro Vancouver property is so strong that it’s fuelling a market for real estate tourism, with groups of wealthy travellers scheduling visits to the city for the sole purpose of house hunting.
Even without specific tours, Tom Gradecak, owner of Westside Tom Gradecak Realty, said about 80 percent of showings for his westside Vancouver listings are to Chinese buyers, and the majority of sales are within that demographic.
“When [prices] are getting over $2.5 million to $3 million, then predominantly that’s our market,” Gradecak said. “Over [$4 million to $6 million], they’re almost the entire market.”
The New York Times recently featured a condo in the Gastown neighborhood in its International Real Estate: House Hunting in … column.
Although Vancouver remains Canada’s most expensive city to buy a home, if you don’t have a multimillion dollar housing budget, you may want to know that the summer real estate market in Vancouver started slow but steady, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
The number of sales in June 2010 declined by 30 percent, compared with June 2009’s near record sales levels, but prices continued to rise.
Over the past year, the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) benchmark price for all Greater Vancouver residential properties increased by more than 11 percent, from $518,855 in June 2009 to $580,237 this June.
For current real estate listings in Greater Vancouver, visit Realtylink.org. And for more resources for relocating to Vancouver, see our Top 10 Places to Live/Vancouver.
Vancouver photo ©Carolyn B. Heller
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