Numbers are up 18 per cent over 2006, but fewer buildings change hands
Sun
Prices that building owners pay for rental apartments in Vancouver are up 18 per cent over 2006, at the same time that the number of apartment buildings sold in the city has fallen about 25 per cent, according to the Goodman Report.
Based on 2007 sales of apartment buildings up to Oct. 31, the average suite in Vancouver sold for $184,644, an increase of 18 per cent over 2006 prices. In the suburbs of Metro Vancouver, the average apartment price rose nine per cent to $118,000.
However, the number of sales fell from last year. Authors of the report, David and Mark Goodman of Macdonald Commercial R.E.S. Ltd., project there will be 60 apartment building sales in Vancouver by the end of the calendar year, down significantly from last year’s 81 sales. Within the suburbs, sales of rental buildings are expected to reach the same number as last year’s 83 buildings.
In Vancouver, the biggest changes have occurred in Kitsilano, where sales in the first 10 months of the year totalled five buildings, compared to eight in 2006, and prices rose more than 35 per cent, from $167,956 to $236,413. In Marpole, sales in the first 10 months totalled just five buildings, compared to 14 for all of 2006, and prices rose from $114,903 to $143,990.
Vancouver’s east side was the busiest area for apartment sales, with 15 buildings totalling 292 units sold in the first 10 months of this year (with an average suite price of $122,349), followed by the West End, with 12 buildings totalling 397 units (average suite price of $212,003).
Outside city limits, Burnaby was the busiest area, with sales of 29 buildings totalling 631 suites. The average suite price in Burnaby was $124,264.
David Goodman, co-author of the report, does not foresee much change for Lower Mainland renters who, facing a vacancy rate of less than one per cent in the city, don’t have a lot of apartments to choose from.
“Rental buildings are a vanishing breed,” said Goodman. “Many of these old apartment buildings are 40 years old and they’re becoming troublesome for the owners because of the high cost of maintaining them.”
Overall, he sees a cooling off of a market that has been busy for the last six years.
“We are finally beginning to see a peaking of the market,” said Goodman. “Typically things slow down before Christmas, but we’ve noticed in the past two or three weeks a dramatic slowdown in activity.
“I think the market is catching its breath. Investors are looking over their shoulder and watching what’s happening in the States, and people are just sort of sitting back and watching the market.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
