If you live near a SkyTrain station in Metro Vancouver, you know the value of this convenience.
Just how much value? Well, apartment buyers have paid 4.5-per-cent above assessed value on average for units near a SkyTrain station between March 15 and May 31, 2020, according to a report by Vancouver-based real estate marketing and analytics firm Roomvu.
The report, which compared the sold price of apartments to government assessed values, found apartments in some Metro Vancouver areas sold at the highest rates above assessed value - 6, 5.6 and 5 per cent respectively. While the lowest discrepancy between sold price and assessed value was in Richmond at 2.3 per cent.
“Access to transit has become valuable over the course of time. Prices of transit-friendly homes rose over the course of the year in spite of the far-reaching negative economic consequences of the pandemic,” said Thomas Davidoff, economist and professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business. “Social distancing measures have undeniably made selling a home more difficult, as hosting open-houses and in-person tours have become difficult or impossible. That said, we still continue to see a very strong relationship between price point and sales performance, both in terms of sales to listings and price relative to assessment.”
“Looking at the difference between sold prices and government assessed value paints a more accurate picture of market activity than looking at price alone,” said Sam Merhbod, a Vancouver-area realtor and CEO at Roomvu. “COVID-19 has certainly dealt a blow to Vancouver’s real estate market overall, but the apartment segment is showing some signs of recovery,” he added.
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