Residential developers continue to look to East Vancouver for new opportunities given the increasing scarcity and rising cost of developable sites in the Downtown and Westside areas.

A landmark sale for East Vancouver was Westbank’s acquisition of the Canadian Tire site at 2220 Kingsway, in the Norquay Village plan area. That site traded at $34,088,000, representing $135 per buildable sq ft.

A review of sales over the past two years shows a general average price of approx. $100 per buildable sq ft., with values varying depending on site specific conditions such as location and zoning. Sites in and around Main Street show prices above $150 per buildable sq ft, where sites along Kingsway have shown a range of $80-100 per buildable sq ft. Other increasingly active corridors include East Hastings and Fraser Street.

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Source: Colliers research.

Based upon the most recent statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver’s Home Price Index, benchmark prices for residential real estate have shown a slight to moderate decline since May 2012, depending on housing type.

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Source: REBGV stats. (The home price index measures the rate of change on housing prices based on resales data to obtain benchmark prices.)

For perspective, the benchmark price for single family has declined 4.8% since the peak in April 2012. Overall, since July 2010, single family homes prices in Richmond have risen 15.2%, while townhouses have risen 5.1%, and condos have actually declined 0.6% during the same period.

From a new supply perspective, there are currently estimated to be approx. 5,000 housing units under various stages of approval and development in Richmond (ie. 1-5 years delivery), most of which are either woodframe or concrete multifamily units. New townhouse construction comprises less than 7.0% of the total new units being built. New single family construction in Richmond is currently limited to small scale and single lot developments.

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has released data for July 2012 which shows that pricing is beginning to be negatively impacted by slowing sales. A selected grouping of housing types and areas, shown below, shows pricing changes over the last two years.

This comes as July was the slowest month for home sales in Metro Vancouver since 2000. Of course, prices are still up in most areas YoY, but there has been a consistent decline in June/July  across all types and areas. Single family homes have shown the greatest run up in prices over the past two years.

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The Home Price Index (HPI) measures local housing price changes similar to the consumer price index.

Source: REBGV stats