How about paying $6 to 7 million for a lovely mansion in Vancouver, British Columbia, less than 20 years old. Amongst other features of the 7,300sqft luxury residence, there is an indoor pool, media centre, new hardwood flooring, huge corner lot with mature trees, and a three car garage. It sounds like a dream home for someone, and it is… except that it will be torn down to build a bigger house. In other words, in the real estate business it’s a “teardown”, a $6 million teardown. A demolition permit has been applied for, but not yet granted.
For years real estate analysts have been saying Canada’s far overpriced housing market will collapse. They say it’s overheated, that housing prices are far exceeding average salaries and the ability of people to pay for them, adding the prices are far overvalued by 20 to 30 percent.
The hottests markets are certainly the major cities and especially in and around Toronto Ontario, which has expanded to be now known as the greater Toronto and Hamilton area (GTHA). But even wilder is the housing market in an around Vancouver British Columbia where anecdotal claims say that offshore speculation mainly from Asia is driving prices skyhigh.
Another example of a teardown is a small house on a small lot which is listed at $2.4 million. The outside is a little rough, the lot needs cleaning up, but the inside is not bad and it could make a nice house for someone. But, it too is a “teardown”, a $2.4 million teardown. Unless of course it sells for more than that.
As an example, last year a large 4,000 sq/ft house was listed at $5.99 million. Within just 12 days it sold for over $2 million above the asking price at $8.01 million.
Even though many analysts including international ones who have assessed Canada’s housing market have all said Canada’s housing bubble is bound to burst, and have been saying so for years, there certainly seems to be no sign of that anywhere on the horizon.
Additional information-sources
- Huffington Post 2015- above price
- Vancouver Sun- 6 million teardown
- CTV video- 6 (7) million teardown
Huffington Post- 2.4 million teardown
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