Vancouver teardown listed for $3.5M one year after selling for $2.5M
A teardown on Vancouver's west side has been listed for just under $3.5 million, a year after it was purchased by a numbered company for $2.5 million.
It's unclear how the seller decided on the asking price, which is approximately 40 per cent higher than the property last sold for in February 2021. CTV News has reached out to the realtor for more information.
The listing has raised some eyebrows on social media, but Tom Davidoff, a housing researcher and professor at UBC's Sauder School of Business, told CTV News the price didn't strike him as "totally crazy," given the state of the market.
"Prices have certainly escalated over the past 12 months," Davidoff said.
"Now it is a totally crazy number in terms of there not being a lot of people in Vancouver who can pay $3.5 million just for land, then build a house on top of that. You're probably looking at $5 million at that point."
The listing notes the property, located in the city's pricey Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood, has already undergone "oil tank removal and asbestos analysis," making the 94-year-old home primed for eventual demolition.
"Builder and investor alert!" the listing reads. "Ready to build your dream home."
Images show the windows and entrances of the home boarded up, and the exterior marked with graffiti, including the words "Eat the rich."
According to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver, the benchmark price of a detached home in the region surged from $1.75 million in April 2021 to $2.13 million in April 2022.
But with the Bank of Canada expected to continue with a series of interest rate hikes, some analysts believe Vancouver real estate is poised for a downturn that could last years.
A Royal Bank of Canada outlook published last month predicted B.C.'s aggregate benchmark price will drop 3.8 per cent in 2023, which is the biggest decrease forecast across the country.
"We expect downward price pressure to be more intense in Vancouver, Toronto, and other pricey markets," RBC assistant chief economist Robert Hogue wrote in the report.
Davidoff noted that so far, the market has only started to show signs of slowing.
He also pointed out the Arbutus lot is 50 feet wide, making it larger than many Vancouver properties, which might allow for greater density than your standard detached home with a basement suite or laneway home.
"I can say for comparison purposes, to see basically a teardown property that's very likely to be replaced at $2.5 million on the west side wouldn't be uncommon, and that would be on a smaller lot, typically," he added.
The property was last assessed at $2.38 million, with the 1,195-square-foot teardown – a two-storey home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms – accounting for just $10,000 of that.
The owners are two Vancouver residents, according to B.C.'s Land Owner Transparency Registry.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.