West Vancouver real estate was somewhat under valued before 2011. More and more Chinese buying West Vancouver home properties, the price jumped so high and so quickly. Due to its limited inventory, especially in some areas like Ambleside and Dundrave, the price can be “manipulated”, and could go even higher.
In 2010, the average home price in greater Vancouver rose 14 percent from 2009, according to the Real Estate Board. Excluding the three most expensive areas — the Westside, Richmond and West Vancouver — the average price gained 8 percent. West Vancouver is a separate municipality on the north shore across Lions Gate Bridge from downtown and not to be confused with the Westside. The three priciest areas usually account for about one-third of annual home sales in greater Vancouver.
The current group of Chinese homebuyers in Vancouver is the third “wave” from Asia since 1990, following Taiwanese and Hong Kong immigration.
British Columbia, the province where Vancouver is located, gets about 55 percent of Canada’s investor-class immigrants, people who have a minimum net worth of C$1.6 million, said Cameron Muir, chief economist of the British Columbia Real Estate Association. The province drew a total of 3,779 investor- class immigrants from China last year, or 69 percent of all investors moving to British Columbia, said Muir.
Chinese buyers frequently are absentee owners, wealthy businessmen who buy second or third houses for their wives and children while continuing to live in China for work. While education for children often is the primary goal, some immigrants just want to move money out of China because they don’t feel it’s safe.
Interest is spreading to other parts of Vancouver as prices on the Westside jump. The latest hot markets are West Vancouver and the southern bedroom community of White Rock.
Because houses in West Vancouver are built on the mountainside with their backs to the Coast Range, they generally face south, providing views of English Bay and Burrard Inlet. This situation conforms to the principles of feng shui, the proper placement of features within and surrounding a house to increase wealth and deflect bad luck.
Susie and her Chinese assistant has been working hard to bring many good Chinese buyers to appreciate your West Vancouver real estate home property.
