Vancouver eyes 'micro-suites' as Chinese buy up mansions
As mainland Chinese snap up Vancouver's mansions and apartment prices soar, one developer is now selling tiny 300 sq ft flats
Vancouver's property scene, fuelled by Chinese migration and investment, has long been famous for the luxury homes that fetch eight-figure sums and help make it Canada's most expensive real-estate market.
Now a developer is launching the smallest apartments for sale in the country, 297 sq ft "micro-suites" in the satellite city of Surrey. The tiny flats have variously been hailed as a solution to Vancouver's affordability crisis - or a symptom of an unreasonably high market.
Charan Sethi, president of the Tien Sher Group of Companies, said the response to the tiny flats in his Balance development had been overwhelming, and not just from the very low end of the purchasing pool. The apartments went on sale off-plan on Saturday, priced at C$109,900.
"When we started marketing this, I thought we'd be looking at those earning C$15 to C$22 an hour," Sethi said. "But to my surprise we've had investors, young people, parents looking to buy for their children who are students, a whole variety of people."
Sethi said the apartments were the cheapest new homes for sale in greater Vancouver. Construction is scheduled to begin soon, with completion expected by summer 2014. Sethi said 27 of the 56 units in the Balance project had sold since Saturday; 60 per cent of the flats in Balance are micro-suites.