A Vancouver home sale that closed this month at more than $2 million — or 33 per cent — above the listed price is the latest eyebrow-raising real-estate deal in a city racked by worries about affordability.
The home, at 1383 West 32nd Ave. in Vancouver’s tony Shaughnessy neighbourhood, was listed for $5,990,000 on Feb. 5 of this year, according to its MLS listing. It sold for $8,010,000 on Feb. 17, and the sale was finalized on April 16.
The listing broker for the sale, Stuart Bonner of Re/Max, said 10 prospective buyers expressed interest in the property during the 12 days it was on the market. That level of interest is fairly normal, Bonner said, but the sale coming in at more than $2 million above the listed price was “unusual.�
“It’s that kind of a market,� Bonner said.
Bonner said Vancouver’s supply of detached houses is shrinking while more lots are converted to townhouses and apartments.
“When you’ve got too little supply (of detached houses) and too many buyers, that’s always what happens,� he said. “There’s only one result: Prices go up.�
The property’s assessed value this year is listed at $5,094,600, records show, meaning the sale price was $2.9 million above its assessed value.
Bonner has worked in real estate on Vancouver’s west side for 36 years, and said in that time the housing market has “absolutely� changed. He recently saw a property he had sold for $1.98 million a few years earlier that resold for more than $2.5 million.
“I was thinking, ‘Holy smokes, in three years it’s gone up $600 grand?’� he said. “When you look at it logically, you can understand why it happens. But it is a lot of money. It’s expensive, and it makes it difficult for people.�
Data released this week by Desjardins economists showed housing “affordability continued to slide in Vancouver� in the first quarter of 2015.
The Desjardins Affordability Index, based on the average household disposable income compared with the income needed to obtain a mortgage on an average-priced home, was released Wednesday. The report notes Vancouver’s average property-sale price was nearly $850,000, twice as high as the average across Canada.
The wood-framed, two-storey house on West 32nd Avenue has four bedrooms and three bathrooms, according to the listing, which also notes the property, on a 100-foot lot, is “perfect for redevelopment.�
The lot is zoned for a single-family dwelling, and doesn’t meet guidelines to be subdivided into two lots, said Susan Haid, assistant director of planning for the City of Vancouver.
No one answered when a Province reporter knocked on the house’s front door Thursday afternoon, and there were no vehicles in the driveway. While the lawn and landscaping were well-maintained, it appeared the house was empty.
Land-title records list the property’s new sole owner, Xiuhua Li. Records list Li’s occupation as “housewife.�
Bonner said he believes the new owner’s family has lived in the Vancouver area for some time and plans to move to the West 32nd Avenue property and live there.
Records list the property’s previous owner as John Everett Stark, lawyer. Bonner said the Stark family had lived there for more than 50 years before selling this year.
Last month, an East Vancouver home sale made headlines when it sold for $567,000 over the listed price. That house, at 65 East 26th Ave., was listed at $1.6 million and sold for more than $2.1 million.
dfumano@theprovince.com
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