spongeg
July 8th, 2007, 11:37 PM
$500,000 condos cheap to foreign buyers, realtors say
Half-million-dollar entry-level condos may seem exorbitant to locals, but they're dirt cheap to many international buyers, say realtors.
Dale Sproule, director of real estate at Langford's Bear Mountain resort community, has been travelling to the Middle East, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S., where he says interest in Bear Mountain is high.
"I have a couple of clients from the U.K. who own what they call a row-house in downtown London. Their value there is $3.5 million. They can get twice the property here for half the price," Sproule said.
In London, he said, properties sell for $5,000 a square foot - three times what they go for here.
Since 2003, when the first house was completed, the Bear Mountain development has gradually transformed a rural area on Skirt Mountain in Langford's north end into a neighbourhood of high-priced homes, low-storey and highrise condo buildings, a Westin hotel and private golf course. A village centre with commercial/retail space and second golf course are being built.
In his marketing drive, Sproule has even travelled to Dubai, a trip that led to a Bear Mountain visit last week by a delegation of Saudi Arabians. He will travel to the U.K. in September and has an invitation to address a large conference in Indonesia in November.
That's not to say many lots at Bear Mountain are being snapped up by foreign buyers, he said.
"It's 95 per cent Canadian. But it's changing," Sproule said. The monied, international buyer is looking for large properties, he said.
"They're more looking for estates. The single-family lot doesn't really interest them that much. But if I had something at $1 million, I could sell it tomorrow - if it was big enough and had the view. At our Compass Pointe development at Bear Mountain, for example, we had 14 lots up there at $1 million to $1.7 million. We have two left."
Those sales all occurred in the last three months, he said.
Sproule emphasized that Bear Mountain is not just for the rich - the community will offer condos next year priced at under $400,000. "Those are directed, to the large part, at the younger buyer," he said.
Entry-level prices for the latest development in the Bear Mountain community - four condominium towers ranging from 27 storeys to 45 storeys - will be in the $500,000 range, although Vancouver-based developer Robert Quigg wouldn't disclose the prices of upper-end units. Units in the towers will be between 800 square feet and 5,000 square feet.
http://media.canada.com/1f0bf067-5743-47d6-ae7d-9c02ace16232/VKA-BEAR%20MOUNTAIN_015.jpg
The Bear Mountain development: Typically buyers own more than one residence.
John McKay
Typically, Quigg said, buyers in his projects are owner-users with more than one home.
"We've had an international-buyer clientele for a long time, but what's really interesting for us in the last few years is that the bulk of our buyers have been British Columbians. It's been a change over the past few years that we've had more British Columbians than international purchasers," Quigg said.
High-end real estate isn't just moving in Bear Mountain. Last month alone, four condos in Greater Victoria sold for more than $1 million each. Another 14 sold for $800,000 or more.
Just who is buying what is not clear. The last figures the Victoria Real Estate Board crunched were from 2005, said Mike Sampson, board manager of communications.
Those showed the vast number of Greater Victoria home purchasers - 76 per cent - were from the region. Twelve per cent were from elsewhere in B.C., nine per cent from elsewhere in Canada and only three per cent from out of country (two per cent of those were from the U.S.).
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=1c59d4c5-097b-492f-b84a-337f8614e193&k=15718
Half-million-dollar entry-level condos may seem exorbitant to locals, but they're dirt cheap to many international buyers, say realtors.
Dale Sproule, director of real estate at Langford's Bear Mountain resort community, has been travelling to the Middle East, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S., where he says interest in Bear Mountain is high.
"I have a couple of clients from the U.K. who own what they call a row-house in downtown London. Their value there is $3.5 million. They can get twice the property here for half the price," Sproule said.
In London, he said, properties sell for $5,000 a square foot - three times what they go for here.
Since 2003, when the first house was completed, the Bear Mountain development has gradually transformed a rural area on Skirt Mountain in Langford's north end into a neighbourhood of high-priced homes, low-storey and highrise condo buildings, a Westin hotel and private golf course. A village centre with commercial/retail space and second golf course are being built.
In his marketing drive, Sproule has even travelled to Dubai, a trip that led to a Bear Mountain visit last week by a delegation of Saudi Arabians. He will travel to the U.K. in September and has an invitation to address a large conference in Indonesia in November.
That's not to say many lots at Bear Mountain are being snapped up by foreign buyers, he said.
"It's 95 per cent Canadian. But it's changing," Sproule said. The monied, international buyer is looking for large properties, he said.
"They're more looking for estates. The single-family lot doesn't really interest them that much. But if I had something at $1 million, I could sell it tomorrow - if it was big enough and had the view. At our Compass Pointe development at Bear Mountain, for example, we had 14 lots up there at $1 million to $1.7 million. We have two left."
Those sales all occurred in the last three months, he said.
Sproule emphasized that Bear Mountain is not just for the rich - the community will offer condos next year priced at under $400,000. "Those are directed, to the large part, at the younger buyer," he said.
Entry-level prices for the latest development in the Bear Mountain community - four condominium towers ranging from 27 storeys to 45 storeys - will be in the $500,000 range, although Vancouver-based developer Robert Quigg wouldn't disclose the prices of upper-end units. Units in the towers will be between 800 square feet and 5,000 square feet.
http://media.canada.com/1f0bf067-5743-47d6-ae7d-9c02ace16232/VKA-BEAR%20MOUNTAIN_015.jpg
The Bear Mountain development: Typically buyers own more than one residence.
John McKay
Typically, Quigg said, buyers in his projects are owner-users with more than one home.
"We've had an international-buyer clientele for a long time, but what's really interesting for us in the last few years is that the bulk of our buyers have been British Columbians. It's been a change over the past few years that we've had more British Columbians than international purchasers," Quigg said.
High-end real estate isn't just moving in Bear Mountain. Last month alone, four condos in Greater Victoria sold for more than $1 million each. Another 14 sold for $800,000 or more.
Just who is buying what is not clear. The last figures the Victoria Real Estate Board crunched were from 2005, said Mike Sampson, board manager of communications.
Those showed the vast number of Greater Victoria home purchasers - 76 per cent - were from the region. Twelve per cent were from elsewhere in B.C., nine per cent from elsewhere in Canada and only three per cent from out of country (two per cent of those were from the U.S.).
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=1c59d4c5-097b-492f-b84a-337f8614e193&k=15718