Burnaby Heights is known for its coffee shops, parks, eateries and walkability, and now it’s known for its million-dollar homes.
Brian Suico, a real estate agent with Sutton West Coast, recently sold a home on Edinburgh Street for $1.37 million – nearly 40 per cent above its asking price.
The house was on the market for 10 days before it was snatched up, he told the NOW.
“It’s quite impressive,” he said, adding he knew it would go for more than $1.3 million based on the other properties in the neighbourhood.
“When people walked in, they knew what it was worth,” he said.
Suico was still receiving calls about the home after it sold, with people interested in other properties that might be available in the area, he said.
“The Heights is just a great neighbourhood,” he said, adding there’s a range of properties there, with condo developments being built on Hastings Street and people in single-family homes downsizing.
Potential homeowners who are interested in a property should put in an offer quickly, according to Suico, as houses aren’t staying on the market for very long. He had more than 100 people at the first open house for the Edinburgh property.
“They’re going to be fighting for a home,” he said of the current market.
The Edinburgh home, built in 1956, is on a private lot that backs onto Montrose Park.
The scarcity of listings in the region, paired with high demand, has created a strong sellers’ market, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. April’s regional sales increased by 37 per cent when compared with April 2014, according to the board, and were 29.3 per cent above the 10-year sales average for the month.
The sales-to-active-listings ratio was 33.6 per cent last month, the board reported in a press release, which is the highest it's been in the region since June 2007.
However, detached home sales were down in Burnaby by 13.8 per cent when compared with March’s numbers, according to the release. Detached home listings were also down by 4.2 per cent when compared with March’s numbers. In Burnaby, the median selling price for a detached home in April was $1.22 million. In Burnaby North, where the Heights neighbourhood is located, the estimated price of a typical home was $1.09 million.
