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.

Courtesy MSN – Full Article: http://realestate.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=23530429&page=0

“For the 2010 Winter Olympics, about 3,000 of the world’s best athletes (and officials) took over a corner of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia — not to mention the little city that skiers and bobsledders created 70 miles north, in Whistler. Such Olympic villages can be billion-dollar creations that are in the world’s spotlight for just a few weeks.

So what happens to these glamorous villages when the athletes pack up their medals, memories and dirty laundry to fly home?

If the planners have done their homework and everybody keeps their promises, the villages are in for a long and productive post-games life. But that’s not always how it works out. Here’s our look at the afterlife of several villages from the past few decades.

Vancouver: The best (and costliest) village ever?
With its Olympic Village, Vancouver is certainly gunning for one of the most dramatic transformations of a site — and it looks like it may succeed.”

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.