I grew up in West Vancouver. To most Vancouverites, that either implies that I was raised by my grandparents or in a Asian-owed, monolithic palace in the British Properties. In truth, I spent my youth in a wooded but very middle-class neighbourhood near the Cleveland Dam.
Yesterday my brother emailed me, because he noticed that our childhood home is up for sale. It’s an ordinary split-level, 2000 square-foot home and is now 51 years old. It’s got four bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and is on a fairly large lot which backs onto the forest. It’s about ten or fifteen minutes north of Park Royal:
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I’ll have to double-check, but I think my parents paid $75,000 (apparently they paid $96,000) for that house back in 1979. I’m not sure how much they sold it for in about 1992. Today, how much is the sale price?
$969,000. Really? Is that what a million dollar home looks like in Vancouver?
It’s about two blocks away from Collingwood School, which is a ritzy private school that’s probably driven up local property values. Still, though, that seems like an absurd amount of money for such an ordinary house.
DarrenBarefoot.com 
Looks like a far better deal than what you get for that price on the West Side, though.
holy crap -that is nuts!! ha. Too funny! huh. I wonder how much Rosebery would go for!!!
Not a bad price – under a million for a big lot like that? It’ll be gone in a jiffy…
Considering that a beat-down, 50 year old house in East Vancouver goes for $700k, I’d say that $900k for West Vancouver is in line with housing prices in GVRD.
Location looks pretty swanky too, so close to the Great big Green of the North.
Darren, I don’t know how much your parents put down. But 25% down on that property at 1979 rates would have resulted in $856.12 a month payments. Today, with 25% down at best rate, you’d be paying 4,559.47. That’s a difference of $2,385.21 in today’s dollars. So the house has really only doubled in value after inflation. I guess that’s why you need two incomes to get by now.
Hmm, so assuming 18.5% mortgage, your parents would have been paying the equivalent of $3,015.84 a month. Expensive at the start, but not at the end.
Hi Darren, a little cousin of mine moved to Vancouver end of July… I’m sure she’s going to buy your childhood house !