Average price in the Greater Vancouver reaching $1 mil mark

At an asking price of $889,000, the Second World War bungalow in the 3100-block West 10th Avenue in Vancouver seemed like a bargain to realtor Terry Flahiff yesterday.

With the average price of a detached home in Greater Vancouver nearing $921,000 last month, Flahiff's listing could be considered a bargain.

"It's very busy," said Flahiff, who works for Re/Max Crest Realty (Westside) and has been a realtor since 1985.

"There are still more buyers than sellers in this market and I think that if a property is perceived to be overpriced, it sits. If it is sharply priced, we are certainly seeing people competing for these properties. I'm still in more multiple-offer situations than not."

Helmut Pastrick, chief economist with Credit Union Central of B.C., said it won't be long before the region's average house price breaks the million-dollar mark.

"At some point, we are going to see that $921,000 break $1 million -- it won't be that far off."

Andrew Ramlo of the Urban Futures Institute predicts the $1-million average price will continue to push people out of Vancouver and into multifamily developments.

"If you are in your mid-30s coming into the market at $900,000, you either have to win the lottery or have a lot of money behind you," Ramlo said.

"It will push people to more areas where housing is more affordable and cause the land to be used more extensively."

Nick Collier, 59, who is selling the house on West 10th that he bought in 1990, said he plans to rent and see what happens to the market.

"I was a bit hesitant to sell but it is time to move on," said the former stockbroker. "Trying to judge the top of the market is a fool's game."

Cameron Muir, chief economist with the B.C. Real Estate Association, said that with prices rising by about 12 per cent annually since 2000, more people are looking to multifamily dwellings, which accounted for 60 per cent of total sales last year.

"It is a much larger share than it has ever been," Muir said.

Muir predicts prices will rise by seven to nine per cent this year.

While the average sale price of a single-family house was $920,644 last month, Brian Naphtali of the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board noted that the benchmark price for a detached home -- the price of a typical home -- was $761,342, an increase of 14 per cent from February 2007.

"The benchmark is a more accurate reflection of what the market is really doing," Naphtali said.

(prepared by Stuart Hunter/Vancouver Province)