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Like its neighbours, New Westminster saw a drop in condo sale activity in August compared to July. But don’t let that 11 per cent dip lull you into thinking real estate is here changing from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market. August is traditionally a slow month for home sales but its 2015 condo sales were still a whopping 23 per cent over those in the same month in 2014.
The city’s August benchmark sale price of $292,000, representing a typical property within the market, was up slightly over July (0.6 per cent). That number is 4.6 per cent higher than it was a year ago and more than double what it would have been a decade ago.
As of September 4, there were 311 condos on the market in New West; 124 of them were new listings added in August. The average days these properties have been on the market is 63, which is considerably less than Greater Vancouver’s average of 82.
Of New Westminster’s nine condo sales between August 22 and September 4, all but one went for below asking price. The one anomaly sold for $100 over asking. All of these nine homes were relative newcomers to the market with an average of 20 days on the market. The lowest sale price of $224,500 was for a 20-year-old, 630-square-foot Downtown condo; the Quay neighbourhood garnered the most expensive sale of the time period: $385,000 for a 26-year-old, 1,116-square-foot home.
There’s a wide range of product available with list prices going from the low-end $94,900 for a 50-year-old, one-bedroom condo in Uptown to the high-end $1.3 million, two-bedroom, 23-year-old Quay residence. Uptown appears to be New West’s most affordable neighbourhood, with nine out of 10 of the city’s lowest priced listings. The 10 most expensive listings can be found in a broad range of communities including Uptown, Fraserview, Queensborough, Sapperton, and the Quay.
A closer look at the Quay reveals 59 active listings in this riverfront neighbourhood with an average price of $416,000. (Once you factor out the aforementioned $1.3 million residence, the average asking price drops to $400,000.) You can make a home here from as little as $280,000. That will buy you a one-bedroom, 730-square-foot, six-year-old unit.
If you’re motivated by size, the largest condo listed at press time was the $1.3 million Quay home at 3,542 square feet. Its nearest competition is a 1,937-square-foot, two-bedroom home also in the Quay; it’s listed for $439,000.
new westminster market snapshot
