It may seem absurd to teardown a multi-million dollar home and build a brand new one, but in some neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland that’s exactly what’s happening.
Developers are increasingly seeing big value where the property is valuable and the homes are old, making it a perfect scenario for being a teardown.
In the 600 block of King George Way in West Vancouver’s tony British Properties you can find a 10,000 square foot home being constructed.
Walking inside the home, it would appear as though the financial crisis didn’t impact everyone. The home has seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a media room, a smoking room, and a gym. The cost for gold faucets in this luxury home is $90,000.
The home will be put on the market by March with an asking price of approximately $8 to $10 million, which echoes the results of a new Remax national study. The study showed the demand for luxury home sales across Canada is strong. Vancouver has led the way with the priciest market; which has had a 36 per cent increase in luxury homes in the past year.
According to Remax, this home is part of much bigger trend, where builders are snapping up older homes for approximately $3 million then tearing them down and building new ones. These homes will sell – mostly to international buyers – for between $5 and $10 million.
“Actually there are some very nice properties that are being bought for $3 to $3.5 million, even $4 million are being knocked down and being reconstructed into beautiful homes,” Keith Finney, Remax Masters Realty, said.
The demand for good lots with older multi-million dollar tear downs has realtors literally knocking on the doors of homeowners. Arsalan Mahboub, who is the president of Brontes Homes, said builders are finding it difficult to get their hands on lots.
“We do not build houses that are more than $5 million to be honest, if there wasn’t any international buyers,” Mahboub told Global News.
Finney said he doesn’t see this market slowing down but instead believes it’s actually speeding up.
“As long our interest rates remain attractive and our immigration stays the way it is, I see this upper-end market doing nothing but exploding,” Finney said.
~ with files from Jas Johal
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