Absurd Surrey Property of the Week? You be the judge…
Surrey Developer, Tien Sher’s “Balance” development proposes micro-condos ranging in size from 260-650 square feet. Prices will start at $109K.
Well, it’s happening. We are moving into the era of micro-condos in the Lower Mainland. Surrey developer Tien Sher is in the process of getting approval for Balance, Canada’s smallest condo development, to Surrey City Center (Whalley, to be exact). I think they could be on to something. This development has everyone who talks about Real Estate in Vancouver abuzz.
VancouverRealEstateSurrey.com says:
Tien Sher’s Balance microcondo development is following suit of trends in New York, Tokyo and Paris where the solution to expensive real estate is simple: build smaller homes. With a multi-functional design you will still get everything you need in a home but with a smaller footprint and significantly smaller mortgage payments.
Did You Know? In New York City the demand for this size of apartment is huge, people are willing to pay upwards of $2,000 a month to rent a unit of this size!
Hmmm…something tells me that a 260 square foot apartment in Whalley won’t fetch as much as one of the same size in the Big Apple…but investors can hope and dream, right?
Real estate prices in the Lower Mainland are among the richest in North America. In cities like New York, Tokyo and Paris they found a solution – build smaller but build closer to amenities. We wanted to build suites that renters could afford to purchase – today. With suites starting at $109,900, if you can afford the $6,000 down payment, and you make a salary of $17 per hour, we have a home for you. – Charan Sethi, president of Tien Sher.
Young professionals, retail employees, single parents are among the anticipated buyers. As a parent of two children, I’m not sure how I’d feel about living in such small quarters with kids – however- I know millions of people around the world make micro-homes work, so maybe this is actually the direction we are headed in terms of affordable housing in the Lower Mainland. Sethi states:
Balance is unique. No suite comes with a parking stall, but they are available for purchase. A 2012 parking study we commissioned showed most purchasers will forego car ownership and its associated costs, in favor of an affordable home purchase. Balance homeowners’ transportation options include bus, Skytrain and a car-share vehicle onsite. Who needs a car with such a short walk to municipal amenities, shopping and services?
Surrey City Council will need to pass this project through three reviews this fall and then Tien Sher is expected to begin sales in January 2012. Project information will be updated at: www.tiensher.com.
Thinking of buying a micro-condo but not sure how you would decorate? apartmenttherapy.com has great ideas – like this one!
What do you think? Are micro-condos crazy or are they a brilliant solution to affordability problems in Vancouver real estate?
Just another cog in the ghettoization of people.
I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other about the small size of the condos. I do like the fact that they are another option in the marketplace for people to choose from. I don’t know how many owner-occupiers would buy the micro suites, my guess is they are probably going to be more attractive to investors so they will probably mostly end up as decent, affordable rentals. No one is forcing people to live in these spaces; if a segment of the population didn’t find them acceptable then there wouldn’t be a market for them. My first apartment was a 400 sq.ft. studio and I thought it was great. Sure beat living in my parents’ house.
At $109,900 a first-time buyer could buy with $6000 down and live all-in for probably around $500 per month. And when the space gets a bit tight and that person wants to upgrade, she could easily rent it out for more than that and continue to build equity…sounds pretty good to me.
What I find more interesting about this project is that the suites are sold without parking. This is common in Toronto but not in Vancouver (yet). I think we are seeing a significant shift away from the automobile right now in favour of walking, cycling and transit. If I didn’t need my car to shuttle my kids around, I would happily get rid of it in a second. Unfortunately City planning/engineering departments are still woefully behind the curve on this. The provision of parking adds between $30,000 and $50,000 to the cost of a home; this is a huge hidden cost, effectively doubling the cost of car ownership. Housing could be made more affordable if we could cut parking requirements significantly, especially in locations close to transit.
I’m fine for teeny units in a central area… but surrey seems a mistake. Sure, it’s at a skytrain station, but it’s still a suburb. I can’t see how these would be purchased for anything other than speculation or as rentals.
New York, Tokyo, Paris you don’t need space because you can go out at night, everything’s open and they are beautiful cities. I used to catch the bus at surrey central after dark on a regular basis. It wasn’t dangerous, but it wasn’t fun or romantic to be hanging out after 6pm in winter.
Whattttttttt !!
I live in Chicago and visit Vancouver few times.
COMPARE Vancouver to NY and Tokyo, and justify these crap rathole homes…wow….
Comparing cloudy, rainy and boring vancouver to NY is like comparing Vancouver to Whitehorse, Yukon..ridiculous..
Same thing happened in singapore. Property got way too expensive for regular folks (most were purchases by foreigners initially and permanent residents – a loophole enabled them to buy and sell sooner), so developers started making shoebox apartments. Those became really popular with investors on a budget, but it kind of tells you something about the quality of buyers. The last ones in usually end up buing way too high. Soon those fell out of favor buyers due to some backlash over cramped space (the mini apartments here are 500 sq ft). The govt limited developers’ abilty to build more shoeboxes, and market moved on to certain types of government housing. When that became ridiculous (2 mil for government flat (no doubt it was a penthouse and large), the government enacted nw cooling measures.
It seems like vancouver is a hit away from cooling measures since the market is still trying to accomodate buyers with limited means. Once that is satisfied, i guess we’ll see who’s left tp buy.
Basically have to watch rates and who’s buying and where their money is coming from (china?).