• Vancouver Penthouse Lists for $18 million. Over Two Years Later it's Still for Sale.
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[quote]Langereis, president of Delta Land Development Ltd., is on the hunt for a very specific kind of luxury condo buyer. They need to be wealthy. They need to be nice. And, preferably, a full-time resident of Vancouver. [B]“We’ve avoided this trend to go to China and offer sales in China or elsewhere in the world.”[/B] Langereis said. “We’ve stayed home because it’s our belief — it’s something I learned in school — real estate markets are very local in nature.”[/quote] [quote]Langereis’ strategy contrasts with that of other luxury condo developments in the city, such as the under-construction Trump International Hotel & Tower Vancouver, which is being marketed in Asia to buyers there. [B]The developer clarified that what he means by “local” is someone who has lived in Vancouver for at least five years and has a commitment to making this city his or her home.[/B][/quote] [quote]Langereis’ own roots in the city are deep. He grew up in a working-class family in East Vancouver and worked as a heavy-duty mechanic before deciding to take the real estate program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. “I applied one day in my coveralls — I was working at Neptune Terminals on bulldozers,” he recalled. He has two children, both in their early 20s, neither of whom are interested in following his footsteps into real estate. “My daughter’s all about permaculture and my son is [training] to be a machinist,” he said proudly. As comfortable as Langereis is in his well-appointed kingdom — bantering with the concierges and greeting building residents cheerfully in the elevator — he also regrets how some things have changed. Langereis is working on planning a new community in the Soo Valley near Whistler, which he hopes will provide an affordable alternative to the internationally renowned ski resort. “I went to Whistler in the ’70s and there was a beautiful culture there and sense of community,” he said. “But that sense of community’s been pushed away. … The main centre of town is retail, it’s become a very coveted place, it’s become monster homes. It’s lost a lot of that original charm.”[/quote] [quote]"It’s not difficult to sell Vancouver to the world", he said. “Think of the world as one big Monopoly board. The most coveted locations — everyone wants Boardwalk and Park Place. If you think of every city that you know, every city has a place to work, a place to shop, a place to do industry and a place to live. “So if you think of the world as a city, well, we’re the nice residential district of that city.” But he acknowledges that, as attractive as Vancouver properties are, it can take patience to connect with the right buyer. During a tour of the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia, Langereis showed Business in Vancouver two four-bedroom units on the 47th floor, both priced at $8 million. “The person who bought [unit] 4701 paid $8.8 million in 2012. I’ve had offers for these for $6 million or $7 million, but what am I doing to that person? I won’t sell it,” Langereis said. [B]“I like to make sales, but I also have my integrity.”[/B] The building’s 6,830-square-foot penthouse on the 48th floor is being sold in a mostly unfinished state, leaving the final design largely up to the future owner.[/quote] [url=http://www.vancourier.com/news/luxury-condo-developer-looks-for-local-buyer-1.1968862]**SOURCE**[/url] As expensive as it is, it really surprises nobody at all out here and it applies to homes in the rest of the upper class, the middle class and even the lower class slums of the DTES. Hell, it applies to every city in the Pacific Northwest as far as Calgary and Portland. You block Asian investment and our real estate market goes stale, eventually imploding as the bubble bursts. There's nothing we can do about it now. If China tanks we're completely fucked.
On the topic of eye-watering house prices, a 13,875 square foot penthouse flat in Singapore recently sold for S$51 million (US$38 million): [url]http://business.asiaone.com/news/le-nouvel-ardmore-penthouse-sold-51m[/url]
$18 million? Dont you mean $8 million per unit? [editline]17th June 2015[/editline] Anyways the problem in the west is just over-demand and under-supply. Look at Sydney here. Real estate market is insanely competitive because you don't just have your typical home buyers, but you have Asian investors and also property investors looking for places to rent out as investors get huge tax incentives from negatively geared property. An average house in Sydney costs like around $1 million today. Single car parks that aren't even sheltered sell for $150,000. It's actually more affordable to buy a brand new Ferrari than it is to buy most houses in Sydney.
Was kinda hoping for some pictures of the house.
[QUOTE=Sero;47979501]Was kinda hoping for some pictures of the house.[/QUOTE] [url=http://www.rew.ca/news/a-penthouse-tour-of-the-private-residences-at-hotel-georgia-1.1747326]Here's the sub-penthouse suites below.[/url] [img]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/article22605117.ece/BINARY/w940/image.jpg[/img] Upstairs looks a little....well.... [quote]Upstairs, in the 48th-floor penthouse, it is a different story again. It is a rare true penthouse, taking up the entire top floor and entirely encircling the elevator core. And, aside from one lavishly staged corner, the penthouse is currently a vast, empty, concrete shell, waiting for whoever takes it on to do with it what they will. “They could put a bowling alley in this section,”[/quote] $18 million buys you what equates to a large empty room several hundred feet up in the middle of Vancouver. You still have to actually build the house per-say.
Unsurprising that they sold it as a blank canvas, the people who buy at such prices can also afford to furnish the residence to their taste, however execrable it might be. On the subject of real estate bubbles though; it's already burst out here, down south at least; apartments that used to cost $100k are being cried at half that price or less and there are still no takers. There's simply no money left to buy the damn things with.
Well as long as Chinese money pours into Vancouver that bubble will grow.
[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;47980317]Well as long as Chinese money pours into Vancouver that bubble will grow.[/QUOTE] Not just Vancouver, a lot of Metros in the Anglo world in general. American and Canadian cities are seen as otherwise "Safe" places to sink their money into while they quietly ferry their families over.
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