Home value assessment out, Vancouver sees slight increase

Good morning,

And happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your time off work. 

I know we sent a lot of fundraising emails over the holiday, but rest assured, it’ll be a while before you see any of those again, because… We hit our goal of 150 new members, for a total of 153 in fact! A big thank you to everyone who joined. It’s because of you we’re in great shape to continue bringing you the biggest stories in Vancouver.

One big piece of housekeeping — I’m off to Japan next week for my first true vacation in a long time. Dustin Godfrey, who wrote some of the newsletter in December, will be taking over writing duties for the next few weeks. 

And with that, let’s get to the newsletter!

— Geoff Sharpe, Vancity Lookout editor

If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

WEATHER

Wednesday: 8 🌡️ 4 | ☁️

Thursday: 6 🌡️ 2 | 🌧️

Friday: 4 🌡️ 3 | 🌧️

HOUSING

Tiny shelters now open

What happened: The long-gestating project to build tiny shelters on a parking lot near Terminal Avenue is complete, with some people moving in during December, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

They’re part of a two-year pilot project. Each unit is about 100 square feet, with shared facilities like toilets and showers next door. The units will hold two people, allowing for 18 in total to use the homes. 

Problems: It wasn’t meant to take this long. According to Coun. Peter Fry said in an interview with The Tyee, the original plan should’ve taken less time than two years. 

• Costs are also a problem, with the cost per unit is more expensive than other jurisdictions. They cost $500,000 for 10 buildings, an average of $50,000 per unit. Compare that to Victoria, which costs $15,000, and Duncan, which costs $7,000 per unit. 

Of note: The funding for the project was provided by the Empty Homes Tax. 

Ongoing debate: As noted in the Tyee story, ABC party Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung was less supportive of the units since they were not a long term viable solution and tied up valuable land that could be used to build more housing. This echoed a similar justification for ABC to vote against the continuation of a temporary modular housing project back in July which would’ve maintained 750 temporary units. 

• Dig deeper: The Star provided a breakdown of the positives and negatives of tiny homes in the Waterloo Region. 

What it means: It’s part of a growing trend in cities across BC that are adding these types of facilities to deal with homelessness. It’s not a permanent solution as the story notes, but intended to help people stabilize their living situation before finding permanent living arrangements. 

According to the Tyee, the purpose of the buildings is also designed for those who aren’t, or don’t want to use, shelters.

VANCOUVER NUMBERS

⛽ 2.3 cents: How much lower gas costs at the beginning of this year, compared to last year. Gas was also lower by 7.2 cents across Canada. [CityNews]

💰 $14.9 million: The average amount the 100 highest-paid CEOs in Canada will make this year, up 4.4 percent compared to last year. That’s $7,162 per hour, or 246 times the average Canadian worker. [CityNews]

🌡️ 7 degrees: The mean temperature in December, which was 3.4 degrees higher than normal. The last time it was that warm was in 1939. [Vancouver is Awesome]

HOUSING

Home value assessment out, Vancouver sees slight increase

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and no I don’t mean Christmas — it’s housing assessment time.

What happened: The B.C. Assessment Authority released their data on housing values and Vancouver’s prices increased by four percent, to an average value of $2,209,000, according to the Vancouver Sun.

• The data from July 1, 2023 and it should be noted that many of the recent housing policy changes from the provincial government were not yet enshrined in law when the assessments were done. 

The data: There was a big difference in price increases of homes versus stratas. Single-family homes rose four percent to $2.2 million. Stratas, on the other hand, did not change in value, staying consistent at $807,000, according to The Star. 

While residential values are somewhat flat, commercial and industrial land values rose at a much higher rate. Metro Vancouver, where much of the increase happened, is dealing with a huge shortage of industrial land, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

• Of note, the most expensive home in Burnaby is $26 million which is owned by Michael Bublé, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

Surprise: Actually, it’s not really a surprise, but Vancouver has four of the top five most expensive homes in BC. The only place not on the top five is, and this is not a joke, a literal island. James Island is listed at $57 million, which is not even close to the most expensive home at $81 million, owned by Lululemon founder Chip Wilson, according to the Vancouver Sun. 

Fun fact: The way property taxes work means as values rise, the property tax people pay actually falls. Here’s a great breakdown from the Tyee. If you want to learn more about how tax policy works, it’s worth a read: 

• “As things stand, property taxes work very differently from other taxes. Rather than locking in a tax rate (or set of rates) as we do with income or sales tax, property tax rates change annually. At the municipal level, a city, town or village determines its budget for the year and then sets property tax rates at a level that will raise this amount of money.”

Homeowner grant: As part of the property assessment, some homeowners will be eligible for the homeownership grant, according to CityNews. The amount is unchanged, and you can find out how much it’s worth at Service BC. You can submit your application here.

DREAM HOME

Since BC released its housing assessments, we thought we’d take a look at the most expensive home in Vancouver.

Unfortunately it only had one photo, so we’re featuring the second most expensive. 

Opulence barely begins to describe it. With seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 15,000 square feet of living space, swimming pool spa… The list goes on.

At this price, you’ll need to stop buying avocado toast for many, many (many) years. 

House of The Week is a home selected by the Lookout team and is not a paid advertisement. All ads are labelled as such. If you’re a realtor who wishes to feature your home in our newsletter, please contact our sales team. 

THE AGENDA

👮 A break-in at the Sala Sexual Violence Support Centre is raising concerns over data privacy after the computer server was stolen that contained sensitive information about clients and donors. [CBC]

📅 From January to February green bin collection will only happen every two weeks, starting Jan. 8. The city says it’s because the volume of stuff in the green bins is much lower. [CityNews]

🚆 There was a technical issue yesterday morning that caused the SkyTrain to shut down between Commercial-Broadway and VCC-Clark. TransLink has not said what caused the problem. [CityNews]

📷 More than 1,400 police in Vancouver will soon be wearing body cameras, as many other jurisdictions across the province also follow suit. Vancouver’s pilot program will cost $307,000, but no costing is yet available for a full rollout. [Vancouver Sun]

🏗️ Good news for you art fans. The UBC Museum of Anthropology will soon be back open after seismic upgrades. It had originally been slated to reopen in July 2023, but will not open until June of this year. [Stir]

👶 The $ 10-a-day daycare program in BC has proven popular, but a new study say low-income BC families are not using many of the 13,000 spots. One expert says the program needs to be expanded by an additional 50,000. [CTV]

🏒 Tough day for my Lookout colleague Robert in Ottawa, but a good day for Canucks fans. The team beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 last night. The team sits at first place in the Western Conference.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

It was another busy New Year's on Granville!

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• A group of California Sea Lions have taken up living in Coal Harbour and they’re attracting a crowd. [Global]

• Speaking of sea creatures, thousands of people took to English Bay to participate in the Polar Bear Swim. [CityNews]

• Here’s a real dream for every space fan. Star Trek fan Gloria Knowlan, who lived in Vancouver, will have part of her ashes sent into space. [CityNews]

• Here are the top most borrowed books in the Vancouver Public Library. [CBC]

• Corner stores rock. Here’s a list of the most charming local ones. Maybe there’s one where you live! [Georgia Straight]

• This tailor shop in Chinatown is a shining example of the history of the area. [Vancouver Sun]

• Want to have your announcement featured? Learn how here.

GAME TIME

Today’s Vancouver Guesser is a bridge. Can you name which one is featured here? Reply with your name and correct location to be featured in the newsletter.