The price of a two-storey home in Vancouver is nearing $1 million, according to Royal LePage survey results released on Thursday.
Calling it a rollercoaster effect, Phil Soper, president and chief executive, Royal LePage Real Estate Services, said that Vancouver home prices have rebounded dramatically after dropping when the economy went south.
A detached bungalow, for example, is selling for 21.8 per cent more than it did in 2009.
Soper called the dramatic fluctuation in prices “a significant degree of market irrationality.”
“(Buyers are) inordinately fearful when faced with poorer markets; and overly enthusiastic when the tables turned,” he said in a release.
The average two-storey house in Vancouver is now $987,500 (up 19.2 per cent) and the average condo is going for $470,000 (up 15.7 per cent).
Brian Pavao is looking to enter the housing market and said he’s had to turn to family for help.
“We want to stay in the (downtown) area, but with the budget we have to buy a place we can’t afford what we currently live in … we are willing to sacrifice size for location,” he said.
New homeowner Chris Vohradsky said he bought four months ago as prices were rising.
“I had to make a quick decision, that I wasn’t quite ready for,” he said. “I had saved up a car down payment and I ended up having to use that toward my house down payment too.”
“I’m taking public transit for a couple more years now, but I got (what) I wanted.”
