ARE WE REALLY THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN NORTH AMERICA?
I think we have all heard the headlines: “Most expensive city in the World”, “Severely Unaffordable”, “Houseing Crisis", "Out of Reach", etc., etc.
Having just returned from a little recon mission to NYC, I can whole-heartedly tell you that we don’t even come close! First off lets create context and compare apples (no pun intended) to apples. The reality is we have some pretty lame architecture in Vancouver compared to NYC. The closest thing to a New York neighbourhood we have in Vancouver is probably found in Yaletown, Crosstown, or Gastown. Considering these are some of most desirable neighbourhoods in Vancouver, I think we are safe to compare these to New York's equivalent of the Meatpacking District, West Village, or Tribeca. I’ve taken a couple examples below:
Earlier this year we sold this unit at the Iliad (arguably one of the nicer buildings in Yaletown):
#7-1245 Homer, Yaletown
Looking for an equivalent property in NYC resulted in the following unit:
#6B - 122 Greenwich Avenue, West Village
Let's break down the numbers:
| 7-1245 Homer | 6B-122 Greenwich | |
| Asking Price | $1,388,000 | $3,800,000 |
| Square feet | 1581sf | 1392sf |
| $/sf | $878 | $2,730 |
| Condo Fees | $454 | $2,206 |
| Down payment | $277,600 | $760,000 |
| Est. Payment | $6,008 | $17,306 |
Taking another example, here is one of our latest listings in Gastown:
#503-141 Water St., Gastown
Compare that to this 1 bedroom loft in the Meatpacking District:
4D-838 Greenwich, Meatpacking District
Once again let's break down the numbers:
| 503-141 Water | 4D-838 Greenwich | |
| Asking Price | $649,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Square feet | 964 | 775 |
| $/sf | $673 | $1,935 |
| Condo Fees | $391 | $1,372 |
| Down payment | $129,800 | $300,000 |
| Est. Payment | $2,991 | $7,372 |
Now of course, there are a lot of factors when you talk about affordability. However, I think we have to be weary of our headlines here in Vancouver as to not confuse affordability with cost. NYC is close to 3 times the cost of Vancouver when you look at the gross numbers. Yet, somehow Vancouverites think we have the highest real estate prices in North America. From a global perspective we are affordable.
Perhaps instead of focusing so much on affordability, we should be discussing incomes. If we made anywhere close to the incomes of those in NYC, I’m pretty sure our headlines would read differently.