WHAT A MEDIAN INCOME BUYS YOU IN VANCOUVER,
FIND OUT WHAT A MEDIAN INCOME CAN BUY YOU IN VANCOUVER’S HOT HOUSING MARKET. HINT: SOME OF THE OPTIONS FLOAT.
If it looks you can’t afford the average home in Metro Vancouver, you’re probably right. A typical detached home in the city now costs more than $ 1.5 million, while the index price, including all types of housing, for the entire region, is almost $900,000. So what can you buy in Canada’s most expensive city? If you start with median household income — $ 6,225 monthly, based on 2015 numbers — you can quickly arrive at a figure using standard allowable debt limits. Assume you saved 20 per cent for a down payment — not a bad strategy to avoid costly mortgage default insurance from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
Using CMHC’s standard that not more than 32 per cent of a homeowner’s gross monthly income should go toward housing, VanCity, the largest credit union in the province, said that in 2015 a median income would have translated into a maximum home price of $464,375 — almost half of the actual index price in Vancouver.
( For the purposes of the study, VanCity used an interest rate of 2.89 per cent, an amortization of 300 months, estimated monthly property taxes of $155 and a monthly heating bill of $100.)
Even to buy that house, you’d need to come up with a down payment of $92,875, and your monthly mortgage payment, to pay off your $371,500 debt, would be $1,737.
Some financial institutions will push those debt ratios to as high as 40 per cent of gross monthly income, so you might be able to stretch a little to get to your “dream” home.”
To get a real sense of the what’s on offer in this segment of the Vancouver market, a Financial Post reporter combed the listings and toured properties in late May. Here’s what he found.
HEAD TO THE WATER (ACTUALLY, ONTO IT)
It’s more of a floating garage for $229,000 — originally created to store a boat, but since expanded to be much more than that.
Remarkably, a quasi two- storey home has been created in the Mosquito Creek Marina, which is walking distance to movie theatres, Lonsdale Quay and the SeaBus terminal, which will connect you from your North Vancouver home to the city’s downtown.
Your converted garage does have electricity, but also comes with a propane stove, and there is a wood fireplace on board.
Of course, you don’t “own” any land here, just the right to have your boat in tow and access your cosy, 500- square- foot home. The taxes are about $790 annually but the mooring fees are just over $10,000 per year.
Not enough space for you? “You can probably build an addition,” says Judy Ross, a realtor with Royal LePage Westside.
WANT DRY LAND? ( YOU MIGHT JUST NOT ACTUALLY OWN IT)
Hey, you’ve just landed in West Vancouver for $269,000 — and it’s a detached home! OK, so you’re in a trailer park.
The Capilano River Park appears to be impeccably well-maintained, as does your 1,000 square foot home on concrete blocks.
You’ve got a stunning solarium, a patio and place to park your car.
Walk around inside and you’ll find a decent- sized bedroom that could easily fit a queen-sized bed and has a real closet.
There’s a spacious living room that’s over 200 square feet, plus a 40- square- foot den that can easily support a large-screen TV. You even get an eat-in custom kitchen with granite counters.
“This doesn’t feel at all like a manufactured home,” says Simon Coutts, an agent with Macdonald Realty.
You’re on the banks of the Capilano River, steps away from the ocean. No, you don’t own the land, the Squamish Nation does, and you’ll pay $675 per month to rent your pad.
START SMALL (REALLY SMALL)
The most obvious choice for affordability is a condominium apartment, which will land you in the heart of the city, but forget about making any additions to your home or your family.
You get to live in what is called the Wall Centre, a fantastic location in the downtown core, walking distance from shopping and the Yaletown district — a trendy revitalized neighbourhood in Vancouver. Restaurants are just blocks away, something you’ll probably need because you don’t have much of a dining room to speak of in your 468-squarefoot home.
What you’re buying is a studio apartment — which sneaks a small bedroom into your general space — maybe enough room for a couple if they get along well enough.
Your kitchen is large enough to cook in, by yourself, with a limited amount of counter space that could double as a breakfast bar, if you plopped a stool in front of it.
Every inch of space is used wisely, so your bathroom must house your laundry room with a stacked washer and dryer hidden nicely in a closet, but not too far from your toilet.
With an asking price of $ 518,000, that price lifts you to about $ 1,100 a square foot, but you do get a parking spot included — no small consideration when spots in the city have been priced as high as $45,000.
A MILLION-DOLLAR NEIGHBOURHOOD (ON THE WATER)
You want to live minutes from Vancouver’s central business district and a short walk to Stanley Park without breaking the bank? Yachts from around the world show up at the Coal Harbour Quay.
As Vancouver home prices continue to make waves, a float home might be your way into the market. And this one, pictured at the top of the page, is only $229,000, marked down from $259,000.
At 300 square feet, it’s small and if you stand really still you can feel the slight motion of the water. But the pluses are a living room that one, maybe two people, could stretch out in and a kitchen you’d see in any studio apartment in the city. There is little privacy thanks to a loft bedroom you have to head a few steps up to — no big deal for millennials who hopefully don’t need bathroom breaks at night.
“Living on the water is becoming a real alternative to land-based base living,” Ross says.
And let’s not forget your “porch” — it’s right on the water.
YOU REALLY WANT LAND ( HOW ABOUT A TOWNHOUSE THAT IS PART OF A STRATA CORPORATION?)
You’ll need to stretch to $569,000, but at that price you can probably house your family in a 1,140-square-foot-home in North Vancouver that clearly needs some work.
There’s a funky smell that seems to permeate the three- bedroom, three- storey townhouse. Those carpets are definitely going to have to go.
Your kitchen has been updated with new cabinets, backsplash and countertops. You’ve got a 132- square- foot master bedroom and 100- square- foot second bedroom on the top floor and a third bedroom on the bottom floor, all of which have individual locks to make this place feel more like a rooming house than a home.
“This can be fixed up pretty easily,” said Coutts, who notes that the key consideration is that the strata corporation has recently paid to upgrade shared facilities and the seven-unit corporation had a new rain screen put in around 2010.
In strata housing, the owners own their individual strata lots and together own the common property and common assets as a strata corporation.
So, you own title, but you do have responsibility to the corporation.
BUT I ALWAYS DREAMED OF A PENTHOUSE (THIS ONE WILL BE PART OF A CO-OPERATIVE)
It’s above your price range at $749,000 but it’s the top floor with a panoramic view of the city, mountains and water and has a 737-square-foot wraparound deck to take it all in.
Just in case you do inherit a little bit of money, you could have this 1,540-square-foot unit on the top floor in the Vancouver Heights district of Burnaby.
The 1960s building looks a little dated from the outside and the common areas could definitely use some capital, but inside your unit you have hardwood floors, 10- foot ceilings and a new kitchen with high-end appliances.
Be warned, it’s a co-op building, so you own shares in a limited company. The 13-unit co-op also has some rules — no surprise there: You need to be 25 or older to purchase, and only one indoor cat is allowed. The co-op will have to approve your purchase and a 35 per cent down payment is required.
Simon Coutts, of Macdonald Realty, says the building is a major development opportunity and changes to co-op rules in the future could make it easier to one day sell out to a builder and reap a major profit.