Realtor Gail Lepore can sell you this $3.7-million ‘sub-penthouse’ on the 24th floor of the Cascina tower, where you’ll have the view of Coal Harbour CREDIT: Wayne Leidenfrost, The Province   Realtor Gail Lepore can sell you this $3.7-million ‘sub-penthouse’ on the 24th floor of the Cascina tower, where you’ll have the view of Coal Harbour CREDIT: Wayne Leidenfrost, The Province

It’s becoming Vancouver on the Hudson.

With real-estate prices skyrocketing, the city’s priciest digs are nudging closer to the cost of New York‘s luxury living quarters.

And with Coal Harbour properties selling at record prices, real-estate experts say it may be just a matter of time before Burrard Inlet is vying with the Hudson River as a fashionable address.

“It’s going to get to the point where this strip is going to be like New York,” said Gail Lepore, who sells properties at Waterfront Place, a six-building development in Coal Harbour. “It’s all going to be owned and you’re going to have to wait for a resale. And when one comes up, there’s going to be many buyers going for that one unit.”

Lepore looks out of the windows of the 24th floor “sub-penthouse” at Cascina, on the trendy north end of Nicola Street.

It’s a 3,970-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment with a wrap-around balcony, listed for a cool $3.7 million.

The suite boasts milk-white carpets, three full bathrooms and a 600-square-foot gourmet kitchen, complete with custom-made Italian maple cabinets.

And it’s not even the most expensive piece of property in the neighbourhood.

Bob Rennie, Vancouver‘s top-selling realtor, says a 5,965-square-foot penthouse in the soon-to-be-built Shaw Tower on West Cordova Street sold on the first day of offering for $5.4 million.

But he cautions that comparisons with New York can be misleading.

“Remember, we’re comparing the best of Vancouver with the norm of New York,” he said.

Nonetheless, Vancouver‘s best is closing the gap with places like the Heritage Building, the sixth tower in Trump Place, in Manhattan.

John Kane, sales director at Trump Place, says his four-bedroom, 2,900-square-foot suites start at about $3.9 million US ($5.2 million Cdn).

“All have beautiful views,” he said. “The building is clad in limestone, has big windows and beautiful views of the Hudson River, George Washington Bridge and Riverside Park.”

Compare that to the views of Burrard Inlet, the Lions Gate Bridge and Stanley Park.

Coal Harbour is just a symptom of the real-estate boom that’s hitting the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley. Figures released yesterday by the Real Estate Board of Vancouver show the median price of a Greater Vancouver detached home at $461,000, with West Vancouver topping the heap at $863,000, up from $740,000 in January last year.

The figures show Port Moody as one of the hottest markets, where the price of detached homes increased a whopping 51.3 per cent from last year to $480,390.

JANUARY HOUSE PRICES

Median selling prices Detached homes Attached homes Apartments

Jan. 2004 Jan. 2003 change Jan. 2004 Jan. 2003 change Jan. 2004 Jan. 2003 change

Abbotsford $249,000 $225,000 10.7% $142,000 $146,000 -2.7% $101,500 $87,900 15.5%

Burnaby $421,000 $373,000 12.9% $272,000 $230,000 18.3% $174,500 $155,000 12.6%

Coquitlam $367,000 $321,000 14.3% $207,900 n/a $143,900 $143,500 0.3%

Delta North $287,500 $247,750 16.0% $145,000 $240,000 -39.6% n/a $65,000 n/a

Delta South $413,000 $323,000 27.9% n/a n/a n/a n/a

Langley $298,900 $275,000 8.7% $205,900 $189,600 8.6% $130,000 $120,800 7.6%

Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows $305,000 $265,000 15.1% $185,000 $150,000 23.3% n/a n/a

Mission $228,900 $199,000 15.0% $84,500 $132,000 -36.0% $78,000 $63,000 23.8%

New Westminster n/a $257,000 n/a n/a $119,900 $133,500 -10.2%

North Vancouver $510,000 $459,000 11.1% $337,000 n/a $229,000 $150,100 52.7%

Port Coquitlam $339,000 $244,900 38.4% n/a $191,000 $123,000 n/a

Port Moody/Belcarra * $480,390 $317,500 51.3% $223,450 $190,800 17.1% $176,920 $151,200 17%

Richmond $426,000 $326,000 30.7% $305,000 $234,500 30.1% $184,000 $128,000 43.8%

Squamish n/a $285,000 n/a n/a n/a n/a

Sunshine Coast $220,000 $186,000 18.3% n/a n/a n/a n/a

Surrey $328,000 $272,900 20.2% $194,000 $194,000 0.0% $116,913 $103,750 12.7%

Vancouver Eastside $384,000 $353,000 8.8% $258,000 n/a $136,000 $135,000 0.7%

Vancouver Westside $729,000 $594,000 22.7% $350,000 $351,500 -0.4% $272,000 $229,000 18.8%

West Vancouver/Howe Sound $863,000 $740,000 16.6% n/a n/a n/a n/a

White Rock $410,000 $410,000 0.0% $285,000 $247,000 15.4% $171,000 $137,000 24.8%

Sources: Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley Real Estate Board

* Indicates ‘benchmark’ prices

© The Vancouver Province 2004