'Housing porn': Vancouver home flipped 3 times in 3 years, most recently for $6.3M
A two-storey home in the heart of Vancouver's posh Shaughnessy neighbourhood was listed and sold twice this year.
The three-bedroom, three-bath single family home is on a 13,048-square-foot lot, which it shares with two other buildings.
It’s surrounded by lush gardens and trees, boasting of “privacy and serenity,” according to its listing.
The home on The Crescent Street most recently sold for $6.3 million, which is $280,000 less than its listing price. Back in February, it sold for $5.3 million.
And before that, in 2018, it was snatched up for $4,840,000.
“My first reaction to it is rich people do rich people things,” said Tsur Somerville, a professor in real estate finance with the UBC Sauder School of Business.
The most striking thing, according to Somerville, is the apparent "flipping of it without renovation."
“It's hard to tell if those are necessarily arm's length transactions," he said, describing a potential situation in which "people transfer the unit from themselves to themselves for corporate holding reasons.”
Steve Saretsky, a Vancouver realtor with Oakwyn Realty who was not involved in this listing, said fewer homes are being flipped – bought and sold within a two-year window – than in previous years.
“If we look at flipping activity, homes that are flipped as a percentage of total sales is hovering just below five per cent,” he said. “If you look at the data from a historical perspective, that's on the low side. I think we reached around seven or eight per cent in the last housing cycle.”
Prices have also gone up across the board.
“When people can borrow on a variable rate mortgage today at 1.2 per cent and inflation is running, you know, north of four per cent, it becomes a pretty compelling place to park your capital,” Saretsky said.
And demand remains high, with home sales up 20.8 per cent last month over the 10-year September average, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
But when it comes to the luxury housing market, Somerville said there typically isn’t as much activity.
“It's a market that's less liquid, but if you're selling a really expensive home there's just fewer people out there. We're going to buy it so they tend to sit on the market for longer times,” he said.
But not The Crescent Street home, which sold in just two days.
“It's the housing porn thing and we're all sort of fascinated by what rich people do,” Somerville said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Which Canadian cities have the highest and lowest grocery prices?
Where you live plays a big factor in what you pay at the grocery store. And while it's no secret the same item may have a different price depending on the store, city or province, we wanted to see just how big the differences are, and why.
'State or state-sponsored actor' believed to be behind B.C. government hacks
The head of British Columbia’s civil service has revealed that a “state or state-sponsored actor” is behind multiple cyber-security incidents against provincial government networks.
Swarm of 20,000 bees gather around woman’s car west of Toronto
A swarm of roughly 20,000 bees gathered around a woman’s car in the parking lot of Burlington Centre.
Mother assaulted by stranger while breastfeeding baby in her car: Vancouver police
A person was arrested in East Vancouver Thursday after allegedly entering a car while a mother was breastfeeding her four-month-old boy.
More than half the Canadians once detained in Syrian camps for suspected ISIS family members have returned home
A total of 29 Canadians have been freed from detention camps in northeast Syria and brought back to Canada since human rights advocates began lobbying for their release years ago.
Rare severe solar storm Friday could bring spectacular aurora light show across Canada
A rare and severe solar storm is expected to bring spectacular displays of the northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, across much of Canada and parts of the United States on Friday night.
Canada abstains from Palestinian UN membership vote but supports two-state solution
Canada was one of 25 countries that abstained from a United Nations vote on Palestinian membership that passed with overwhelming support on Friday.
Amish youth experience a rite of passage called Rumspringa. It’s not what you might think
The idea of “Rumspringa” has a specific spot in the American imagination. A rite of passage for young people in some Amish communities, Rumspringa is seen by most outsiders as a wild time away from strict Amish rules, when teenagers can experiment with the modern vices of the world.
Djokovic needs medical attention after getting knocked on the head by a water bottle at Italian Open
Novak Djokovic needed medical attention after apparently getting knocked on the head by a water bottle after a win at the Italian Open on Friday.