Condo construction is booming in Vancouver
Vancouver is building on its reputation as a city of glass and steel.
Look around the skyline and you’ll see it dotted by cranes, and everywhere there seems to be another hole in the ground making way for another apartment building.
Sixteen condo towers are under construction, according to a database by Skyscraperpage.com and another 67 proposed high-rises are in the works.
Amid newly-tightened mortgage rules and concerns of an over-supply in the Toronto condo market that prompted financial authorities including Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney to sound an alarm this week, we think we’ve earned the right to ask: Is Vancouver oversaturated with condos?
Housing starts in Vancouver are up in the first five months of 2012 compared to the same period last year, driven largely by multiple-unit dwelling construction – which is up by about 50 per cent from last year.
According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 5,503 condo units are under construction in Vancouver in April, adding to the existing 230,000 units already in the city.
B.C. Real Estate Board economist Cameron Muir says the short answer to our question is no.
“Prices have been pretty flat since 2009,” Muir said. “There’s ample supply in the market place, but we are seeing prices at a steady pace.”
The fact more condos than single-detached homes are being built in Greater Vancouver is nothing new, said Muir, as condo starts have consistently made up about 75 per cent of all housing starts in the last several years. “It’s a function of land supply.”
Consumer demand during the last several months is trending on a 10 to 15 year average, he added.
One indicator, says Muir, of the demand-and-supply balance in the marketplace is the sales-to-new-listings ratio.
In Vancouver last month, the ratio, at 15.3 per cent, inched closer to a buyer’s market — but sits within the balanced range of between 15 to 20 per cent.
There hasn’t been a sustained buyer’s market since the recession hit, between late 2008 to early 2009.
As of April, 504 recently-completed units remain unsold. Overall, 3,017 units are listed on MLS.
Is Vancouver over-supplied with condos? The market will let us know.
Here are some of the condos currently under construction in Vancouver:
1. Wall Centre False Creek I, II, III, IV
100 W. 1st Avenue
• 556 units in four towers
• Completion: Early to mid-2014
2. Maynards
1901 Wylie Street
• 253 units
• Completion: Fall 2012
3. James Living
289 W. 2nd Avenue
• 155 units
• Completion: August 2012
4. The Mark
1372 Seymour Street (at Pacific Boulevard)
• 300 units
• At 41 storeys, it is billed as the tallest tower in Yaletown
• Completion: Summer 2013
5. Salt
1308 Hornby Street
• 199 units
• Completion: June 2014
6. Cosmo
161 W. Georgia Street
• 253 units
• Status: Move-in ready
7. The Rolston
1300 Granville Street (site of the old Cecil Hotel)
• 187 units
• Completion: June 2013
8. Maddox
1304 Howe Street
• 214 units
• Completion: December 2013
9. Uptown
2788 Prince Edward
• 100 units
• Completion: Fall 2012
10. TELUS Garden
775 Richards Street
• 428 units in a 53-storey tower, which will be the second-tallest in the city after the Shangri-La
• Completion: 2015
11. Marine Gateway
8400 Cambie Street
• 415 units in two towers
• Completion: 2015
12. 1153 West Georgia Formerly the Ritz Carlton
• 290 units (but should be confirmed independently, based on CBC report)
• Completion: XXX
13. Wall Centre Central Park Boundary Road and Vanness Avenue
1,114 units in three towers
Status: Rezoning application approved. Completion date: XX
TOTAL: 4,464
Here are some proposed developments:
1. Rize Mount Pleasant
Kingsway and Broadway
241 units
Status: Rezoning proposal approved by city council in April. If approved, completion date of XX.
2. Burrard Gateway
1290 Burrard Street (and 1281 Hornby Street)
About 589 units in two towers
Status: Proposed, awaiting rezoning approval. If approved, completion date of 2015 to 2016
Source: GlobalNews. A division of Shaw Media Inc., 2012
