What comes to mind when you think of downtown condo living? Likely lifestyle, convenience, culture, and recreation. Now how about when you think about starting a family? We all still tend to picture the clichéd single family home with a white picket fence and a big backyard. While the common assumption is that family life is incompatible with an urban lifestyle, the statistics are pointing to a considerable shift as more and more young families choose urban condominiums to raise their families.
According to the Vancouver Economic Commission’s most recent neighbourhood area profiles for Yaletown and Downtown Vancouver, the percentage of households with children is 39% and 32% respectively. As of May 2014, there were 13 child-care locations in downtown Vancouver servicing 1,000 children from birth to school age each year.
In an effort to continue the modern lifestyle they have come to enjoy, young couples that already rent or own downtown are upgrading from studio apartments to 2 bedrooms with a den when the time comes to start the next chapter of their lives. Some of the other factors driving this trend are:
- Efficient space A well laid out condominium floor plan offers all the space and functionality a family needs. The common open kitchen, dining and living design provides a great space for a family to spend time together and is much easier to keep organized. Not to mention being an improvement on the wood-paneled basement rec rooms of yesterday!
- Affordability With Royal LePage’s quarterly House Price Survey (Q2 2014) now reporting a $712,027 price gap between an average two-storey home and standard condominium, new homebuyers are questioning whether they really want to pay extra for the land.
- Life/Work Balance For those who work downtown, eliminating the daily commuting is a big draw. The walk to work adds effortless fitness into your routine and the time saved not having to sit in traffic is welcome extra time with the family. The maintenance free condo lifestyle also makes it much easier to juggle a busy family schedule — no need to spend Saturday mowing the lawn and cleaning out the gutters!
- Neighbourhood and Building Amenities The extra square footage that comes with a single family home is amply offset by the incredible amenities like the games rooms, clubhouses, and outdoor BBQ and children’s play areas now offered in many condo communities. Giving up the backyard doesn’t seem like a hardship when beaches, the seawall, and Stanley Park are all within easy reach. Walkable access to neighbourhood amenities like libraries, community centres, farmer’s markets, and other kid-friendly activities add to the appeal of downtown living.
Downtown living for the family has become so popular in fact that the City of Vancouver’s Joint Childcare Council is working with residential developers to provide child care centres as part of their new developments, or to contribute to the opening of new centres, in much the same way that their development permits are tied to other community amenities like social housing, public art contributions and green space.
