A dirty and broken-down Burnaby house on Dufferin Avenue that’s 43 years old just sold for a staggering $2 million.
Another Burnaby house, this one on Pine Crescent, was 68 years old and wasn’t even staged and it still went for more than $2 million.
Old houses in Burnaby are hot right now, with people paying over the asking price – likely for the prospect of tearing it down and building a much-larger new house to either live in or sell in the future.
Both sold in less than 10 days on the market, which begs the question about why a different old house has sat languishing on the market for 528 days and counting.
Maybe it’s the price? The 97-year-old house – which, frankly, looks haunted - in the 5000 block of Canada Way is on sale for a $4.6 million.
But the house is sitting on half an acre. That’s probably where the huge pricetag is coming from. But $4.6 million for a teardown? In Burnaby? That still seems really unrealistic even for a piece of land that size. Sure, you might be able to subdivide it and build two houses, but even with that the prices feel outrageous.
It will be interesting to see if either the price drops or someone decides that this is a golden opportunity as the market heats up again.
And it is heating up.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver's monthly report for March shows the cost to buy a single-family detached home, apartment, townhome or residential all increased last month.
REBGV chair Daniel John said in the report when it comes to listings, there's less than half of what is needed to help shift the market into better conditions.
“We’re still seeing upward pressure on prices across all housing categories in the region. Lack of supply is driving this pressure.
"The number of homes listed for sale on our MLS system today is less than half of what’s needed to shift the market into balanced territory.”
The real estate board says sales last month were 25.5% above the 10-year March sales average.
According to the report, two out of three Burnaby areas surpassed the $2 million mark for a benchmark price last month.
Burnaby South currently sits at a benchmark price of $2,067,100 (+4.2% in one month) while Burnaby North was at $2,021,400 (+4.9% in one month).
Burnaby East stayed under $2 million at $1,776,300 (+2.7% in one month).
- With additional reporting by Jess Balzer
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
