New $93,900 condos aimed at investors
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Brian Regehr knows where most of the buyers for his company’s new $93,900 high-rise condominiums in Surrey will come from.
“Investors will find this is a great rental market,” said the president and CEO of WestStone Group, which launched its 35-storey Evolve project Tuesday in Surrey City Centre in a glitzy, tech-heavy event.
While just “a handful” of the 406 Evolve condominiums will be at the lowest price point, 300 of the homes will be priced at less than $250,000, Regehr said, with the prices ascending with height of the building.
The lease expensive units are on the lower floors and are tiny, at just 316 square feet, but the Evolve suites range up to 1,294 square feet penthouses.
Most of the floorplans are one and two-storey apartments. The building is the second of six towers WestStone is building over the next seven years in City Centre, with a total of 2,800 homes and 100,000 square feet of commercial space planned in one of the largest mixed-use projects in Metro
Vancouver.
“There is no lack of tenants,” Regehr said, noting that the Evolve is right next to a SkyTrain station and close to Simon Fraser University, Surrey Memorial hospital and the city hall of B.C.’s fastest-growing city.
With a 15% downpayment, the mortgage payments on a $93,900 condo would be around $330 per month, plus strata fees, “The bachelor units will rent for $800 to $850 per month,” Regehr estimated.
First time buyers can purchase with 5% downpayments.
The Evolve condos may even be priced below replacement value, based on recent studies on construction and land costs in Metro Vancouver.
Construction costs for a “medium quality” concrete condominium tower in Metro Vancouver average $227 per square foot, according to a study released this month by appraisal firm Altus Group. Land costs in Surrey, according to a survey from Colliers International, equate to a price-per-buildable foot of around $30 per square foot for concrete condominiums in Surrey City Centre. This all equates to approximately $257 per square foot in hard costs, and then marketing, finishing and other soft costs are factored in. Yet Evolve is bringing concrete condos to the market at less than $300 per square foot.
The Evolve opening, which included attendance by Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, featured gee-whiz gaming technology, videos, holograms and interactive 3-D renderings to provide virtual towers of the suites and amenities.
“We want to generate momentum,” Regehr said, noting that the sexy technology and low prices will draw the young buyers and investors Weststone is aiming for.
The Evolve will open in 2017.
The Western Investor