Joannah Connolly
REW
Even in the past couple of years, it used to be that although Vancouver’s home prices were expensive, the city ranked somewhere in the middle for average price per square foot when buying a condo, compared with other major global cities.
But since the latest price surges seen this year, this seems no longer the case, if the results of a new survey are anything to go by.
The Canadian office of international real estate brokerage Century 21 polled its agents in 75 cities in 27 countries around the world to compare the average price per square foot (APPSF) in both condos and single-family homes in the downtown areas of those cities.
At $1,172.80 APPSF, Vancouver condos came in sixth in the rankings.
Hong Kong proper came in first place at $2,330.81 APPSF, and this was followed by Hong Kong’s Kownloon area, Hong Kong’s New Territories, Al Khobar in Saudi Arabia, and San Francisco in fifth place at $1,454.57 APPSF.
New York came in seventh at $1,110.77 APPSF, and Toronto came in 12th place at $833.20 APPSF for downtown condos – a price comparable with Shanghai and Tokyo.
The brokerage also acknowledged the absence of sufficient data from London, UK, and Paris, France, to include those expensive cities in its price rankings.
Brian Rushton, executive vice-president of Century 21 Canada, told REW.ca that he was not surprised to see that Vancouver condos cost slightly more per square foot than those in New York.
“You have to consider that the New York condo calculations include many older units that tend to be a lot larger than those in Vancouver, and that reduces the average price per square foot,” he told REW.ca at a Century 21 Canada media event.
The brokerage also acknowledged the absence of sufficient data from London, UK, and Paris, France, to include those expensive cities in its price rankings.
Rushton added, “While Vancouver’s prices are no doubt expensive, we really rank in the middle of the pack compared with other major global cities.”
Single-family homes, which are typically more expensive than condos but have a lower APPSF due to economies of scale, saw a slightly different global ranking.
Vancouver came in eighth place at $824.47 APPSF for detached homes, with the same cities as in the condo rankings also beating out Vancouver for priciest houses (aside from Al Khobar), but with Beijing, Shanghai and Singapore also ranking as more expensive than Vancouver’s detached houses.
Toronto placed 14th most expensive for its single-family home APPSF, at $594.66.
See the top 30 rankings for both condos and single-family homes below.
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