With the region now deemed the second-least competitive housing market in Canada, the tides have certainly turned in Lower Mainland’s housing market – particularly in the detached sector, and especially for higher-priced properties.
Not long ago, high-end homes were being snapped up for bids well above the asking price, but with government interventions acting from various angles to soften the market, those days seem to be over – at least for now.
The well-publicized recent sale of the unique Cube House in Vancouver is a prime example of this. This architecturally striking property on chi-chi Point Grey Road, one of the city’s priciest areas, sold for $7,950,000, down from its most recent asking price of $8,195,000. However, this was following three listings of this home in 2017, the first of which asked $14 million on the nose, with records showing there was no sale of this property from these listings. It was listed again for $8.99 million in March this year, then reduced to $8,195,000 (check out this March photo gallery story about the listing) before finally selling last month.
This steep price drop is just one of many. Of the 1,508 Lower Mainland homes sold for more than $2 million on the MLS so far this year (registered as sold by August 24), 1,320 sold for below their asking price. Only 102 sold above ask; the remaining 86 were at list price.
The median price reduction across the entire region for $2 million-plus homes was six per cent – but that doesn’t take into account any previous listings of the same properties. For example, as the Cube House was relisted at $8,195,000, it is deemed to be sold three per cent below asking – this reduction doesn’t account for the $14 million listing in 2017.
Price reductions also vary greatly by area, and the percentages are steeper among even higher-end properties, such as the $5 million plus sector, as they have further to decline. In West Vancouver, the median price reduction seen so far this year was eight per cent for $2 million-plus home sales, and 10 per cent for $5 million-plus transactions. In Vancouver proper, the median reduction for $2 million-plus homes was just five per cent, but for home sales above $5 million it was 11 per cent.
The most expensive home to sell on the MLS in the Lower Mainland so far this year is a grand, 12,000-plus-square-foot Shaughnessy mansion (pictured below). This property sold for $26 million, which was three per cent under its $29,980,000 list price – but nearly 26 per cent below the original ask of $35 million.
