Charlie Anderson
Province
(Babulal) Patel
Babulal Patel leans against the door of his newly purchased East Vancouver house, smiles and confides that for him the real-estate market is better than good.
Patel is in the business of buying homes, fixing them up and selling them.
“I’ve bought and sold 600 properties since 1992,” said Patel. “This market is getting better than the 1994 market. I bought this house April 1. It will be sold by the end of this month. I have one property on East 45th that I’ve had one hundred calls on since yesterday.”
The March figures from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver show home prices have risen between seven and 10 per cent from the same time last year.
One of the highest jumps is in Squamish, where the average price for a detached house has jumped from $205,000 in March 2002 to $283,000.
Squamish realtor Gerry Halstrom says so few houses are available that there have been bidding wars.
Halstrom added Squamish is finding favour with first-time buyers and with investors who won’t pay the huge prices for lots in Whistler and West Vancouver.
The North Shore has also been hot. Average prices for single-family homes in North Vancouver have jumped to $475,000 from $423,000 last year, and from $627,000 to $650,000 in West Van. In the last 12 months, the average price on the west side of Vancouver rose from $600,000 to $650,000.
Bill Binnie, president of the REBGV, attributed the red- hot market to historically low interest rates, the growth of the Vancouver area within its natural geographical constraints and a high level of consumer confidence.
Sutton realtor Bruce Kagetsu said talk of bidding wars was misleading. “It’s nothing like it was in the early ’90s. Then, you bought a home and by the same time three months later it was up $50,000.”
– Average prices for detached homes in the Fraser Valley have risen between eight and 15 per cent from the same time last year.
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