Property valuations are rising in the new year, which is nothing new for the Greater Vancouver region – in Vancouver, for example, the average value of most properties in the city rose by 11% in 2022, according to BC Assessment, the province's property valuation agency.lahoo.ca
But have you ever seen a property that appreciates more than 300 times more than the Average in Vancouver in a year?
Canadian mainstream media CBC reported on January 19 that there is a 9-foot (about 2.74 meters) by 60 feet (about 18.3 meters) of land in William Street, Vancouver, 1916. It looks like a temporary warehouse in the big house next to it, and it looks like this:
(Small plot on William Street in 1916 from CBC)
In order to show that this is a separate property, the current owner has also carefully installed a door for it.
Don't underestimate this: BC Assessment valued the small land at only $4,900 in 2021, but according to the 2022 valuation, it has turned upside down and skyrocketed to $173,000 — a staggering 3,431 percent increase, almost 350 times the appreciation of other properties in its community, Grandview-Woodlands.
After the results of the provincial government's valuation of the land came out, Lanefab, the company that owned the land, was dumbfounded: "In terms of any development that the city is currently allowing, this assessment is completely out of touch with reality," Bryn Davidson, the company's co-owner, couldn't help but complain to the media, "It feels like the appraiser first posted a bunch of numbers on the wall, and then casually threw a dart, and the price is what it is."
(From BC Assessment)
Although the spit is very incisive, but this price is speculated, you Lanefab company itself is not clear?
According to BC Assessment's public information, the small piece of land was sold for $88,000 in July 2020, and then just 11 months later, Lanefab directly "threw" $210,000 into its pocket, almost 43 times the government valuation that year.
Okay, now that the government has adjusted the price based on your transaction records, the public value of the land has taken off directly, and all potential buyers can see that the land is most likely smashed. Your company is not happy now, who is to blame?
Appraisers at BC Assessment said owners could appeal by April if there was an objection to the valuation. Lanefab said the company "wanted to use their small space expertise to transform the site well" and then built a movable office pod here.
But the move went straight to the attention of the Vancouver City Government and ordered the company to dismantle it. Why? The CBC quoted Vancouver city officials as saying that the small plot of land could only be developed in combination with a larger piece of land on both sides. Helpless, Lanefab now uses it as a temporary warehouse to pile up clutter.
More than 200,000 Canadian dollars bought a wasteland, and there is no one left...
"The idea now is to see if the City of Vancouver is interested in buying this little piece of land and turning it into a pocket park," Davidson told CBC.
In addition to this small piece of land on William Street in 1916, the strange thing of "broken houses" is actually quite a lot in Vancouver - or in Vancouver, according to the Vancouver Sun on January 18, a "bungalow" on Vancouver's West 40th Avenue actually offered a sky-high price of 11 million.
(The "bungalow" at 481 West 40th Ave is from the Vancouver Sun)
The house is also very nonsensical: according to the wording of the Vancouver Sun, it is actually a bit too much to say that it is a "bungalow" - to be reasonable, others are indeed a little older, but it is also a big house with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a government valuation of 3.866 million Canadian dollars.
But to say that it is a mansion, the 2022 government valuation shows that the house is only worth 10,000 Canadian dollars.
Moreover, the location of the house, although not bustling, is not far from West 41st Street and Cambie Street, and it is basically opposite the expanded Oakridge Center. But by this alone, do sellers dare to offer a price that is twice as high as the government's valuation?
The Vancouver Sun explains that the ideal seller of this house is not a family – the price is actually for real estate developers. Not far from this "bungalow" is the Cambie Corridor, which, according to the "master design concept" of the 2018 Cambie Corridor Phase 3 Plan, has prepared several 13-storey or higher apartments, and on Manson Street, west of Cambie Street, there is a project that is actively underway: what if there is no land for high-rise apartments? The developer bought 6 detached houses in one go, and then directly pushed down the tall buildings.
Although the apartment is sold cheaper than a detached house, it can't stand it and can build several sets on the same land! Taking the Manson Street project as an example, the Vancouver Sun revealed that the developer submitted a re-zone application in November 2021, saying that after the bulldogling of six detached houses, two 18-storey apartments would be built, with 392 units available for rent, of which 20% were below market prices.
6 detached houses for 392 apartments, for the developer, this is a completely profitable deal. It turns out that the owner of the independent house is naturally not a fool, since the boss wants to buy my house to make a lot of money, now I sell the house naturally to kill you fiercely.
Plainly
The opening price of this bungalow is 11 million, which is the sale price, which is completely the owner pulling the demolition fee with the developer.
"It's not surprising to people in the real estate industry," commented Jacky Chan, President of BakerWest Properties Chinese. It seems that behind the outrageous price, it is all business...