Richmond Condo News

Building your own  home in Richmond

Some home owners are keen to build their own dream homes. If building your own home appeals to you, you can get the help from one of the many new home builders in Richmond.

Not only you can save money building your home, you also get the features you want for your dream home.

Taking the first step

Work with a Richmond Realtor, who can help walk you through the process of finding a building lot and line-up a home builder for you. Meet with some Richmond builders who construct houses that are similar in size, quality, and features to the home you want. You will have a fair idea as to the cost to build your own home. It is important to know exactly what is included in the price - your builder can provide a list showing the materials that will be used.

Cost of building lot

In Richmond most building lots for new homes are from old homes that are bought for their lot values. These homes are torn down to make way for the contrauction of new homes. Your building lot cost may varies from $500,000 to $650,000 for a lot in a prime west Richmond  neighborhood. In desirable neighborhoods like Granville, Riverdale and Broadmoor, the cost for building lot around 8,000 sq ft may range from $600,000 to $650,000. In Richmond Seafair area, lot prices may range from $500,000 to $550,000.

You can search for west Richmond building lots here. 

Cost to counstruct

The construction cost may varies depending on the size of the home, the floor plan and features you want to have in the house.

The cost per square foot is derived fromteh construction estimate divided by the square footage of the new home you want to build. A typical 3,700 sq ft new home in Rchmond may cost $480,000 to $500,000.

The cost per square foot is often higher for a small home than a larger home. When building a larger home, the cost of expensive items like furnace and kitchen is spread over more square footage. Consequently, a larger home may have a lower square footage cost than a smaller home.

Build to suit

This approach involves using a Realtor to locate an older home that will be used as the building lot for the new home, and a home builder undertaking the construction of your new home. You can pick the floor-plan from existing blue-prints, and provide the features you like to have for your home. Financing for new home construction can be arranged with a local bank. Typically, 3 draws each around one-third of the construction cost is paid out as the home is being completed in stages.

For more information on building your own million dollar home in Richmond, you can contact me at 604-721-4817 for a discussion.

You can view some of the Richmond million dollar homes for sale by following this link.

Richmond real estate: spring activities

Sales of detached, attached and apartments in Richmond continued to improve, from 199 and 337 in February and March to 429 in April 2009. With more buyers and fewer homes for sale in recent months, the Greater Vancouver housing market has entered a more moderate and balanced state.

Declining supply

For the past 6 months, new listings for detached, attached and apartment properties declined in Greater Vancouver. Total listings for April 2009 was down 33.7 per cent compared to April 2008, when 7,010 new units were listed.

The total number of property listings on the Multiple Listing Service, while slightly down compared to last month, remains unchanged compared to the same period in 2008.


Market over-supply and poor economic conditions

The spring surge in market activities could be attributed to anemic sales during the winter months, and aggressive interest rates cuts by the Bank of Canada in recent weeks. The market is now left with homes that were passed over by home buyers. These homes may be over-priced or not as appealing to home buyers.

There are motivated buyers looking for good homes fairly priced showing up on the market. This may not happen as home sellers are holding off listing their homes at today's prices. The lack of good qualify listings coming onto the market will result in lower sales activities in the coming weeks. 

The supply of homes is still high in relation to the demand. The next few quarters outlook for the Richmond housing market is likely to remain moderate, and home prices under pressure to decline more gradually due to market oversupply and deteriorating economic conditions.

Affordability is still a problem  

Home buyers, including  many first-time buyers were attracted to enter the market due to low interest rates, good supply of housing and a considerably lower cost mortgage compared to recent years. However, housing affordability is still a problem for many home buyers.

You can follow the monthly Greater Vancouver and Richmond housing market up-dates here. A list of Richmond homes for sale on the MLS system can be viewed here.

Current Sales Activities

Richmond's real estate market activities over the past 3 months registered a rebounce in sales. The table below summarized the past 3 months (February 01, 2008 to April 30, 2009) sales of Richmond detached homes. The active listing figures posted were the number of homes listed for sale as of first week of May, 2008.

It is generally accepted that an absorption rate (list/sale ratio) around 6 months inventory represents a neutral or balanced market.

Market improving

Currently, homes below $600,000 were in demand and this could be attributed to these homes being more affordable. Higher sales activities the past 3 months for homes in the $800,001 to $1,000,000 range helped to keep the listing and sale ratio in balance. However, homes over 1.5 million are taking a much longer time to sell.

The latest housing market report for Richmond can be viewed here.

In a buyer's market like today, right pricing is critical to attact buyers. A list of million dollar homes available for sale in Richmond can be viewed here.

If you like to have more information on the current real estate market in Richmond, South Vancouver of Burnaby, kindly contact me at 604-721-4817 or email me.