Big-selling tiny condos could set regional trend
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With nearly half of the smallest condos in Canada selling out during a one-day sales event in Surrey, the time of the micro-condo appears to have arrived in Metro Vancouver.
Twenty-seven of Tien Sher’s 56 tiny condos were snapped up within hours of them going on the block at the four-storey Balance building in North Surrey. Tien Sher had labelled them as the smallest new condominiums in the country.
The smallest suite in the building is 297 square feet and the largest is a 648-square-foot two-bedroom unit. Sixty per cent of the suites at Balance are 308 square feet or less.
Prices started at $109,000. With a 5 per cent down payment, mortgage payments would be around $600 a month, meaning the units offer the potential for positive cash flow for investors.
The condos are aimed at young professionals, single parents and retail workers who make $22,000 to $55,000 a year and are looking to buy their first home, according to the developer. But first buyers were primarily parents of Surrey students, investors, professionals and senior citizens.
“It is exciting to see that this size, style and price of small homes has hit the mark with homebuyers who would otherwise not be able to buy,” said Charan Sethi, president of Tien Sher.
Meanwhile, Reliance Properties of Vancouver has unveiled an ambitious plan to build “about 500” micro condos, mostly in the East Village area of East Hastings Street. Most of the tiny condos will be in the 300-square-foot range, according to company president Jon Sovell.
Reliance tested the market with the completion of the successful Burns Block renovation in downtown Vancouver, a rental project with apartments as small as 270 square feet. Reliance rented out all the tiny apartments for an average of $1,000 per month. Despite critics, Sovell said all the units rented in a week through free ads on Craigslist, nearly all to young downtown workers.
After proving small can be popular, Reliance is now renovating an old hotel in Victoria into 100 micro condos that Sovell said would start at $120,000, or about one-third the average price of a Victoria condominium selling through MLS. Sovell expects buyers to be a mix of owner-occupiers and investors.
from Western Investor June 2013