Vancouver land values point to higher home prices
May 17, 2023
Photo: cordova
Land has become the most sought-after commodity in Metro Vancouver’s real estate market and residential land prices—some at more than $90 million per acre—point to higher housing prices ahead.
B.C.’s Lower Mainland saw spending on land hit $7.3 billion in 2022, according to the Commercial Edge from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
Land sales and prices continued to accelerate during the first quarter of 2023.
The sale of a 0.20-acre development lot at 1065 Pacific Street, Vancouver traded at $19 million or the equivalent of more than $90 million per acre. Wall Financial Corp. closed on the property January 31 and intends to rezone the land for a 32-storey residential building.
In March, Marcon Development Corp. paid $21 million for a 0.76-acre assembly site at 102 Avenue in Surrey’s city centre. The land, priced at the equivalent of $27 million per acre, is approved for mixed-use residential towers at a floor-space ratio of 9 FSR. It sold at the full asking price, according to Stanley Chiu of Gammon International Real Estate, Vancouver, who brokered the deal.
In late April, Keltic Canada Development paid $94 million for 4.2-acre former Brentwood Bowling Lanes land in Burnaby with a plan to build two to three residential towers.
This was followed by the $42 million purchase of a 0.42-acre site on East Cordova Street, Vancouver in a deal brokered by Colliers. The site is seen as a mixed-use residential development property with an eye-popping price of $100 million per acre.
While residential land sales are often factored as the price-per-buildable square foot, the high price of dirt assures that Metro Vancouver multi-family condo and rental prices will have to increase to capture the land value, developers note.