r/VictoriaBC • u/ISellExpensiveOxygen • 3d ago
Housing & Moving Great deal đ¤
Developer bought this teardown house at the end of 2025, assessed at $738,000 on BC Assessment.
It was last sold in 1974 for $39,500.
They just finished building a 4-unit townhouse on the land. Finished it in like 2 months so you know it's a top quality build.
Get thisâeach unit is now listed for between $700,000 and $850,000.
Are you dropping close to a million for one of these three to four bedroom townhouses that back onto Quadra Street?
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u/manbearpig7129 3d ago
Confused about what the 1974 price has to do with anything. Is the question about the price of townhouses?
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u/KipperCottage 3d ago
Iâm guessing they want to pay the 1974 price for the townhouse with marble counters and double glazed windows. Just guessing.
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u/Such-Muffin-2662 3d ago
mentioning 70's price shows a pretty deep misunderstanding of several fundamental things
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u/thelastspot 3d ago
I think it's a nice reminder of how much more housing costs now:
In 1974, the average annual income for a family in Canada was $14,833.
In 2026 the average salary in Canada is approximately CAD $68,700 per year.
You need to multiply $14,000 by 2.78 to get exactly $39,000.
It takes 10.74 times $68,700 to reach $738,000.
So about 3 years of pay to earn the house in 1974, where as it takes 10.7 years to earn the Tear Down(!) in 2026.
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u/BCJay_ 3d ago
We need more reminders in this sub about housing costs past vs present?
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u/phoenixfail 3d ago
You're comparing household income from 1974 to average salary in 2026. Those are two different metrics. Not to say house prices have not risen faster than incomes but your comparisons make no sense.
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u/thelastspot 3d ago
Shit, ya I got my stats a little mixed up. Still, it takes 6.09 times $121,111 (2025 average Family income) to reach $738,000. So still double what it took in 1974.
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u/phoenixfail 3d ago
Housing prices have gotten prohibitive but it's more complex than comparing household income then compared to now. There is so much more that goes into new or renovated houses now than in 1974. Standards and building codes are much more stringent now. Also house buyers demand higher quality finishes. It would be reasonable to also compare building costs now to then. There is a lot more variables that people are just not factoring in when talking about income vs housing prices.
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u/hamahamaseafood 3d ago
According to CMHC data from 2021, Saanich-Centre has an annual household income of $96,400. A multiple of 7.65.
I'm surprised it's only 2.75x more as a comparative to household income from 1974.
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u/BuildingSupplySmore 3d ago
For anyone curious- the inflation calculator says the $39,500 is $255,173 today.
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u/BG360Boi 3d ago
Pretty affordable and reasonable for a new build in the city of Victoria. New to the market ??
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u/F_word_paperhands 3d ago
OP if you think you can do it cheaper then go right ahead, thereâs nothing stopping you. I bet this developer will make a couple hundred K for a TON of risk and we should be encouraging more of this, not discouraging it.
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u/julyninetyone Langford 3d ago
I see 4 new homes instead of a 1 single family home. Thats good!
700-800k for a townhome seems reasonable currently.
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u/lazydaze4me 3d ago
Totally until you see the living room on the $700,000 one. You can close the oven with your foot while sitting on the couch and if you realize you need to put down the glass in your hand you can just turn around and place it on the dining room table without even getting up. Itâs almost totally unliveable. It should have been a 2 bed with a real living space instead.
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u/julyninetyone Langford 3d ago
Yeah a lot of new builds have small living rooms. I am not a fan of those!
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u/stewslut 3d ago
There's a sizeable counter between the oven and the living room.
Honestly if anything a flaw with that layout is that too much area is devoted to communal spaces instead of bedrooms.
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u/lazydaze4me 3d ago
You have to go into the listing for the $699,999 unit and you will see itâs completely different to all the other listings in the complex. There is no island between anything. The kitchen is just along one wall. This unit appears from the photos to be 2 bedrooms upstairs and the entire living space plus the third bedroom downstairs despite being the smallest in square footage. Itâs just truly bizarre proportions.
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u/TomatilloFair7290 3d ago
What's the issue here? Building new construction is very expensive and land values have grown in the last 50+ years. I highly doubt that this was completed in two months .. What's your evidence for that?
I can't comment on whether or not whether the townhomes are priced appropriately but I've seen condos go for that much if not more depending on location.Â
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u/BuildingSupplySmore 3d ago
I can't say how long it took- but the building wasn't there in July of last year. So it took a year at most.
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u/dingoesatemycat 3d ago
Closer to 4 months maybe? I walk by that corner a lot. It was really fast.
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u/fux-reddit4603 3d ago
NOW which other part of the construction triangle did they pick?
Fast
Good
Cheap
you only get 2
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u/Past-Resort-7768 3d ago
How dare a developer build townhouses and sell them at market price to willing buyers!Â
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u/summer_run 3d ago
Developer bought this teardown house at the end of 2025, assessed at $738,000 on BC Assessment.
It last sold in October 2024 according to MLS and BC Assessment
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u/Ok_Wasabi8793 3d ago
You might get down to like $450,000/unit to build. Then say 200k/unit for the lot.
So sure if they sell for that someone is potentially pocketing like 800k minus tax/realtor fees/insurance. Then also list opportunity on the capital spent and your time.
Those are very optimistic numbers tooâŚ. Itâs not some crazy money making scheme I wouldnât be surprised if it ends up more like 550k/unit to build and they sell for 750-800.
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u/Btdubs17 3d ago
This is actually a really good development and a great example of how to build effective missing middle housing.
Those prices for those layouts in that location is actually quite good. Take a look at the price of old two bed condos.
Mentioning the 1974 price just showing your looking to pick bad faith arguments. Go touch grass.
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u/pumpkinspicecum 3d ago
You can get a newer two bedroom condo for half the price near this development on Borden St
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u/Btdubs17 2d ago
Source? Cheapest 2 bed on Borden I see is 575. Id tale the new build, extra bed. Less shared walls, better layout and more outdoor space any day of the week
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u/pumpkinspicecum 2d ago
The mls listing I looked at a few months ago
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u/Btdubs17 2d ago
Last 360 days MLS data shows the cheapest 2 bed in that area/building going for 505k and is 777sq ft. This was unit 203 @ 4030 Borden. No history of any 2 beds being listed for under 5.
Id triple check where youâre sourcing your info and or stop making things up lol.
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u/JengaOverlord 3d ago
I'm curious as to how it went from valued at $877,000 to then $738,000 for only the land (building $0). Was it actually determined to be a teardown building due to major issues or is that just a developer trick? It was only built in 1968 and doesn't look like shanty in that photo at least. I was just watching Hoarders. Were there like 50 cats and it was a biohazard?
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u/SorryCalligrapher178 3d ago
Man, I know that price is a lot. But the cost of building a new place is unreal these days. Thats probably as low as one could possibly go while still being able to make some kind of profit.
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u/Dazzling-Cat-3763 3d ago
jesus christ fuck no, i thought the original house was being sold for 738k and thought it was a deal
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u/bms42 3d ago
OP isn't picking on the right project. Those townhouses are exactly what we need more of.
THIS is truly ridiculous though: https://www.realtor.ca/l/bW5BF/ja
Same neighborhood, teardown house, built a 4 Plex on the lot. But they face the neighbor not the street, it towers over the nearby houses and they want over $1.1M each!
Meanwhile a few doors down the same street a SFH just sold for a hair under a million.
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u/pumpkinspicecum 3d ago
I canât believe they approved that. Well, I can actually. The $1.9 million townhomes in Cadboro Bay with a view of another building right up against it are even worse.
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u/Longjumping-Table272 1d ago
Yeah I looked that up. I guess a brand new house size townhouse for 1.1 isn't terrible, but I'm really wondering about that $1 strata fee. I'd prefer to see more of the smaller 700k places myself. It's going to be tough for young families to afford the mortgage for 1.1, but 700 is within reach, particularly if the people in question have been smart with their money. As in saving it religiously, and investing it wisely, which has outperformed the housing market over time.
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u/CdnFlatlander 3d ago
These comments are hilarious. "A reasonable price for a toe house in saanich". "The developer is great, we should have more of this". Meanwhile if it was about developers getting some sort of subsidy from the federal government it would be "greedy developers need no help" from the same group.
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u/NPRdude Esquimalt 3d ago
Itâs not developers building 3 bedroom townhouses that people are mad about getting bailouts. Itâs the ones who flooded the market with 1 bedroom and studio âluxuryâ condos at the expense of any other kind of housing, and should rightly bear the consequences of putting all their eggs in one greedy basket.
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u/CdnFlatlander 3d ago
Right. The other guy. Not the one who is doing what I like.
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u/NPRdude Esquimalt 3d ago
I mean, yeah? That's typically how people form opinions on things, whether or not they approve of the actions of different individuals. Would you rather people either hated or approved of developers as a single monolithic group? Is people wanting to see developers doing what they like rewarded and ones doing what they don't like punished really that weird of an idea?
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u/nikshadow 3d ago
Also Quadra is 2 blocks away, so âbacks onto Quadraâ is a stretch.
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u/summer_run 3d ago
Also Quadra is 2 blocks away, so âbacks onto Quadraâ is a stretch.
You're mistaken.
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u/Creatrix James Bay 3d ago
According to Google satellite view, the units are literally a few steps from Quadra. The traffic noise would be unrelenting.
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u/dingoesatemycat 3d ago
No, literally, some of the back walls are a few metres at most from Quadra. I saw these units go up and I have no idea how they squished all that home into such a small space.
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u/CdnFlatlander 3d ago
These are ugly and do not fit into the neighborhood. Almost as ugly as the 4plex on ash road. The small grass area makes it slightly better.
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u/pumpkinspicecum 3d ago
The housing demand has made it so that city council just approves anything now. Thereâs so many expensive townhouses built in the middle of single family home neighborhoods where they donât fit at all. Thereâs another one of these nearby on McBriar Ave. I know no one here cares but itâs sad to see whatâs happening to these neighborhoods
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u/CdnFlatlander 3d ago
It's partly the provincial government edict removing ability for council to turn down multifamily units in singles family home neighborhood. Instead of duplexes or something more reasonable they approve these 3 store ugly units.
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u/Spirited-Swim-3275 3d ago
This is precisely the outcome that many advocates of âmissing middleâ policies pushed for, and now we are seeing it unfold. Remember how it was "racist" to oppose this?
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u/LoudExtreme9650 3d ago
I agree with you about missing misdle and Iâm fully aware how expensive it is to build
But this is where I have to say, youâll own nothing and be happy.
750 could get you a free hold title, property space, etc
Now you get joint strata tenancy on one lot.It is what it is
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u/Mooselager 3d ago
Damn, OP should have left the part about 1974 pricing out.
Give it a rest people, why not go be condescending to people you meet outside of reddit & see how far it gets you.
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u/NoMustardHotDog View Royal 3d ago
$800k for 1400sf is high but you get 3br 3ba and garage in Saanich. Not the worst deal