Where should I invest in Vancouver Real Estate in 2020?

Not all of Vancouver’s neighbourhoods were created equal when it comes to buying in 2020. This week, Adam & Matt skip the guest and sit down to analyze three key factors shaping our city and – in turn – creating HUGE opportunities for real estate investors. Looking to buy a new home this year? Considering an investment? Wondering whether you should sell or hold? This episode is for you! In real estate, there’s no time machine, but there is also no time like the present. Giddy up!

Vancouver Real Estate News, Market Updates, Insider Tips, Stats, & Analysis

Episode Summary

Today we’re going to be talking about real estate markets that present upside in the city of Vancouver. We like to focus on three neighbourhoods in particular: The energy hubs, employment hubs, and transportation hubs.

Energy Hubs 

What is an energy hub?

“Energy hub” is a term that describes the feeling of an area. It’s a qualitative feeling that’s hard to describe. Some think of an energy hub as gentrifying, but that’s not always the case.

Usually it has a lot of young people and is considered hip. One of the ways we look for these opportunities is to look for emerging areas.

Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant has reached its height as an energy hub. It’s already attracting a lot of people and burning brightly. The properties there are selling quickly and for very high prices, outperforming a lot of expectations. Mount Pleasant is at least doubling the average sales ratio for Vancouver overall. What we want to do is find the next Mount Pleasant type of area.

Hastings Corridor

There’s no certainty, but one example of a potential emerging energy market is the Hastings Corridor. It’s a bit of an ugly area with a lot of room for improvement. However, there’s a lot to like too. It’s got great proximity to the downtown area, and is right next to some of the city’s best neighbourhoods. Often, how the location compares and adjoins to other up-and-coming areas is most important. Some of the biggest players in the development industry are buying up property in the area. It’s ripe for improvement.

You also want to follow the creators of energy hubs, such as musicians, artists, and young people. Often there will be breweries and coffee shops opening up as well. Lower priced rent allows people to take a gamble on an area and do something different and neat. It’s tougher to be experimental with higher prices. The community also has a built-in identity and history, with a uniqueness that allows people to rally behind it. When someone takes pride in their community, it gains a certain energy that translates to the overall feeling.

Employment hubs

When you see companies like Shopify or Amazon come in and create thousands of jobs, it draws in large numbers of people who may not have been already living in the city. Often these people come in to rent at first, with plans to walk to work and not have to commute. Downtown always does well, even in softer markets, as people are always wanting to live there. Northeast downtown is one such area that tech industry workers love.

False Creek

The False Creek area is also about to explode with the new St. Paul’s Hospital coming in, bringing the area from 8,000 to 30,000 jobs over the next 30 years. Hospitals create their own ecosystem, where you have a large amount of commercial services that cater to the healthcare system. The viaducts coming down will also create a lot of green space, similar to the Highline project in New York. The surrounding areas will also become waterfront.

Transportation hubs

Due to the city becoming more and more expensive, people are wanting to be in areas where they can easily walk to public transit, like skytrain or bus stations. There’s a cultural shift away from cars and toward other more green modes of transportation. We’ve seen huge increases of prices around these hubs.

Examples

The Broadway line is very exciting for those along the route, starting at Commercial Drive to Arbutus and likely UBC in the future. Cambie and Broadway will be a fantastic place, with both the Canada line and the Broadway line intersecting there.