A Collection of Urban Villages
Richmond is made up of six villages: Bridgeport, Capstan, Aberdeen, Lansdowne, Brighouse and finally the Oval Village. The City has been planning and gradually implementing a strategy that embodies the concept of healthy urban living. This concept provides opportunities for people to live, work, play and learn in a sustainable high-amenity environment. The City is also developing a series of compact and engaging higher-density urban villages supported by a range of high quality amenities, including affordable housing.
It’s hard to miss all of the cranes in the various villages in Richmond these days. You can see these urban villages coming to life as new high-density buildings fill in these walkable, transit-oriented communities. The population in the Oval Village alone is expected to grow to 14,000 people over the next 8 decades.
2014 was a big year for residential real estate sales in Richmond with well-known developers such as Cressey, Polygon, Concord, Amacon, Intracorp, Onni and Pinnacle all coming to market with multi-phased communities. Most of these sites experienced success with their first and second phases.
New concrete projects are averaging between $535 to $580 per square foot depending on the location and specifications. The Richmond market offers a wide range of product types. Some homes are high-end luxury living (i.e. River Green), some are focused on quality construction and layout design (Cadence) while other homes are built to be economical with practical finishes (Tempo, Pinnacle Living at Capstan Village).
The Richmond Central condominium market continues to be one dimensional in terms of demand, with Chinese investor and end user segments accounting for the vast majority of sales. There have been recent patterns that suggest end users are attracted to the Oval Village neighbourhood while investors are favouring homes along No. 3 Road within walking distance of the SkyTrain. Within the end user demographic, young, supported, first-time home buyers and families wanting to upgrade their home make up the majority of market demand. These buyers are typically attracted to pre-sale condominiums that offer proximity to amenities and are more value oriented. Recently, the majority of the interest has come from local Chinese investors looking for condos with proximity to rapid transit.
There are currently 35 new residential projects selling in this marketplace (mostly concrete construction) and within these projects, 80% of the homes have already sold.
We expect Richmond will continue to be a strong market for new condominium sales in 2015. However, there are a number of projects coming this year from new developers as well as the future phases of major master-planned communities. For example, Beedie Living, ASPAC and Yuanheng, are expected to bring approximately 1,500 new homes to the market in 2015. With an increase in new home inventory, greater supply versus demand could slow the rate of sales absorptions in the coming months.
