The price of a “standard” two-storey house in Vancouver and on the north shore jumped 10 per cent to $1.1-million in the first three months of 2011, according to research last week by real estate agency Royal LePage. The figure puts the city at triple the national rate for a typical two-storey residence – an average of $379,000, up 4 per cent in the past year.
Investments by Chinese are playing a role in helping to buoy the hottest real estate market in Canada, according to local realtors. The additional demand may be helping to underpin a market whose prices seem to impossibly levitate above the typical local incomes in the region. (Read more in David Ebner's story: Foreign buyers buoy Vancouver housing)
Are Vancouver's high housing prices sustainable? What's next for the city's real estate market?
Vancouver-based reporter David Ebner hosted a live discussion with John Lichtenwald, owner of Metro Vancouver Properties -- a collection of seven Re/Max offices in the Vancouver region.
The company sold $3.7-billion of residential real estate in 2010, the most of any multi-office Re/Max outlet in the world. Mr. Lichtenwald, who has been in real estate for the past quarter century, estimates that about of a sixth of his firm's buyers are foreign, led by those with China roots.
Click here for a mobile-friendly version of this chat.
