The move from a condo to a townhome, for example, comes with its own set of considerations. Are you willing to give up city centre living? Will you need a big budget for additional furniture? How do you buy and sell at the same time?
To guide you through the process, we compiled some upsizer tips from the cast of RealTours Season One, expert agents who know Greater Vancouver’s best neighbourhoods.
The missing middle.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the Lower Mainland is all condo towers and detached homes. The so-called missing middle of property has been talked about for years. Where are all the townhomes, rowhomes, duplexes and triplexes for people ready to upgrade from a condo but unable to afford the sky-high price of a detached home?
In recent months, the provincial government, alongside its municipal partners, moved towards tackling the problem. New legislation was introduced aimed at increasing multi-unit housing by forcing municipalities to change zoning rules to make it easier to build townhomes, multiplexes and laneway houses.
While this is a step in the right direction, it’s going to take years to build supply of this type of housing. So for now, homeseekers looking to upsize might have a challenge ahead of them. To explore what’s on offer for upsizers, we spoke with a pair of top agents from the cast of RealTours: Adina Dragasanu from Mount Pleasant and Angie Vazquez from Squamish.
Mount Pleasant
Despite being one of Vancouver’s trendiest neighbourhoods, there are still deals to be found in Mount Pleasant, especially for people looking for a bit more space. Townhomes are around 15% less expensive here than the wider Vancouver average, with a median price of just under $1.5 million (data accurate as of February 12, 2024).
“The top neighborhoods that I'm seeing are along Main Street, especially around Riley Park, the Queen Elizabeth area, Grandview Woodlands and Hastings Sunrise,” says Dragasanu. “That's where we're seeing a lot of young people kind of working their way up to a townhome or a duplex or a detached home right now.”
Dragasanu says it’s important to consider your lifestyle when deciding on a location to upsize your home. If you spend a lot of time out of the house, you might be willing to compromise on space in favour of a great location.
“What do you like to do?” she asks. “Are you cooking? Are you watching Netflix? Or do you like to spend most of your free time outdoors, walking to restaurants or walking along the seawall? You need to look at that as part of the whole lifestyle you're purchasing, not just the home itself.”
Squamish
For homeseekers ready to leave the big city behind, Squamish is calling. A mere 45 minutes up the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver, Squamish feels like it’s in a world of its own. The town’s main draw is arguably its location, perfectly situated between the Coast Mountains and Howe Sound, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve.
Squamish has seen a surge in residents in recent years, with a 22% population increase between the national censuses of 2016 and 2021. That’s led to new neighbourhoods being built, new businesses opened and a growing sense of community amongst people who know they live in one heck of a special place.
Despite this recent growth, property prices in Squamish remain significantly lower than Vancouver. The median price for a townhome here comes in just under $1 million, 41% cheaper than a comparable property in Vancouver.
Vazquez says she first noticed a trend in homeseekers coming to Squamish to upsize during the pandemic.
"The thing that I got asked the most during COVID was from people moving from a townhome or a condo in Cold Harbor, North Vancouver or West Vancouver to Squamish to a family home or a place that had room for an office," she says.
If you’re considering a move to Squamish, Vazquez says it’s important to consider whether you’ll need to commute. The Sea to Sky highway, the only road into Vancouver, can get incredibly busy, meaning more time in the car and less at home. But if you can avoid it, she describes a picturesque lifestyle of hiking, biking or swimming on your lunch break.
"If you have the opportunity to work from home, I will say Squamish is the place you need to move,” she says.
Expert Advice
Wherever you choose to start your search for your next home, you’ll need to be prepared for the process. While the RealTours agents might have their favourite neighbourhoods, they agree on some key advice for upsizers: you should have a long-term strategy.
When clients come to Dragasanu looking to move up the property ladder, she reminds them that there are a lot of transaction costs that come with selling and buying a home.
“Every time you move your way up the market, you're basically eating away at 5% of your equity,” she says. “So you want to make sure you're buying a property that you're planning to live in for at least three to five years.If you could buy something that you're going to be living in for ten plus years, that's even better, but at minimum three to five.”
For more tips, take a look at our ultimate checklist for buying a property in Canada.
