Record high assesments on the North Shore
We're home to almost 14,000 millionaires, That's 21% of B.C.'s most expensive homes
There are more millionaires on the North Shore than ever before in 2008, but these days, those millionaires are just as likely to be the neighbours up the street or your aunt who's lived in the same house for the past 25 years as they are to be celebrities or software company moguls.
A $1-million property is the new "normal" for the North Shore, where for the first time in 2008, the average assessed value of a detached home rose to just over $1,072,000, up from about $936,000 in 2007.
According to Landcor Data Corp., which analyzes figures provided by BC Assessment, the number of million-dollar properties on the North Shore is now close to 14,000 -- more than 21 per cent of the total number of 65,252 million-dollar homes in the province overall -- up from just over 10,000 last year.
And while West Vancouver certainly leads the trend, it isn't the only area with an increase in million-dollar-plus assessments.
The number of residential properties worth over $1 million more than doubled in the suburban District of North Vancouver, going from 1,301 last year to 2,891 this year.
In the City of North Vancouver -- where typically housing has remained slightly more affordable -- the number of owners joining the millionaires' club tripled in the past year, from 95 in 2007 to 318 in 2008. More than 30 of those million-dollar properties were condos.
Even those property owners who don't have an asset worth over $1 million aren't that far behind, according to the latest statistics.
Overall residential property assessments on the North Shore went up by 14.71 per cent in the past year, from an average of just over $781,000 in 2007 to almost $892,000 this year.
Property assessments in West Vancouver -- among the highest in the country -- have certainly contributed to pushing up those numbers.
The average price of both single-family homes and townhouses in West Vancouver is now more than $1 million, with the average house in West Van now worth almost $1.6 million and the average townhouse clocking in at $1.2 million.
West Vancouver realtor Malcolm Hasman guesses there are usually less than 20 homes on the market in West Van for under a million dollars. "The majority of homes are a million plus," he said -- even an "older tear-down in Dundarave.
"If it has a view, it's a million and a half, just for the land," he said.
Luxury homes in West Vancouver now cost upwards of $5 million -- and the numbers of those properties are also rising, with 216 houses worth more than $5 million in 2008. Twenty homes in West Van are worth more than $10 million.
Realtor Allan Angell said in 2000, only 12 homes in West Vancouver sold for more than $3 million, while that number was up to 69 in the past year.
Among those is a waterfront home at 3330 Radcliffe Ave. in the exclusive neighbourhood of West Bay, which is the highest-assessed property in the province at $23,878,000 and which recently sold for $30 million.
That 11,000 square-foot home -- sold to a new owner under a numbered Alberta company -- boasts five bedrooms and seven bathrooms, along with "maid's quarters," a media room, swimming pool, boathouse and wine cellar -- and a $77,000 annual property tax bill. Angell described the owners as a "normal Caucasian Canadian family" -- who happen to have a lot of money.
Owners of that home aren't alone. Nine of the top 20 assessments in the province are in West Vancouver, including nearby homes on the water at 2588 Bellevue Ave., 3110 Travers Ave., 130 Oxley St., 4351 and 4343 Erwin Dr., 6151 St. George's Cres., 4147 Ferndale Ave. and 1690 Marlowe Pl. in the British Properties.
Many of the buyers at that level of luxury are from elsewhere, said Hasman.
"Seventy per cent of all the buyers I'm selling my multi-million-dollar homes to are all new to Canada and from out of the country" -- many of them from mainland China, he said. Buyers at the high end have also been migrating to West Vancouver from places like Britain, Europe and the United States.
Most of them aren't celebrities or recognizable names, he said -- they're simply families with "high net worth."
But spiralling assessments are a "mixed blessing" for the community, said Steve Nicholls, municipal director of planning for the District of West Vancouver.
"It limits the variety of people who can move into West Vancouver," he said.
Increasingly, only families who have done very well in business or who have inherited significant sums of money can even dream of owning in the community.
Newer residents tend to be more affluent than long-term residents, many of whom have stayed put while assessments rose around them. But options for even long-term residents to move within the community are extremely limited, said Nicholls.
"There are no more apartments being built . . . It's something we're trying to deal with."
The same issues of affordability are facing the other municipalities of the North Shore.
In the District of North Vancouver, the value of an average single-family home rose from $750,835 last year to $858,000 in 2008. Townhouses were up from just under $516,000 to $589,000.
In the City of North Vancouver, an average single-family home is now worth just under $767,000 while a townhouse is worth $586,000 and an average condo is valued at just under $365,000.
"I guess there's good news and there's bad news," said City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto. "If you already own a home it's good news."
But for the 52 per cent of city residents who rent, "it's even harder to get into the home ownership market."
Few rentals are being built and many of the new condos have strata rules prohibiting owners from renting out their suites, he said. "That is a big concern to me."
The situation has wide social ramifications for the North Shore, said Mussatto. For instance, at Lions Gate Hospital, "they have to close between 10 and 20 beds a day because they can't get the staffing" -- young nurses don't want to work on the North Shore because they can't afford to live here.
The city has attempted to deal with the housing crisis by considering options like allowing carriage houses -- detached suites -- on single-family properties.
Meanwhile, the real boom is in people buying condos and townhouses instead of single-family homes, said Mussatto. "They've lowered their expectations."
The reality, he said, is that "the future is going to be different than the past. Not everyone's going to own a single-family detached home. It's going to be for the fortunate few."
Jane Seyd, North Shore News