If you thought Vancouver’s competitive housing market was cooling down with the introduction of the provincial government’s foreign buyer tax in July, you might want to reconsider. A 10,000 square foot Tudor mansion in the city’s posh Southlands neighbourhood has just been listed for four times the price it sold for two years ago.
The owner of the stately mansion, called Gables Estate, bought the home in 2014 for $9.5 million. The current asking price is now a whopping $38 million – making it Vancouver’s highest-priced home.
The substantial increase of $28.5 million has been partially attributed to the extensive renovations to the estate, which were completed this year. The remodel of the 1929 historical house merged old architectural details with modern finishes.
Tsur Somerville, a business professor at the University of British Columbia, told CTV Vancouver on Tuesday he was skeptical about the renovations’ value.
“A 300 per cent increase when the market has gone up 60 per cent,” Somerville said. “That’s a lot of really nice renovations.”
The Gables Estate, located on Southwest Marine Drive, is the largest and most private property available in Vancouver according to David Hung, the home’s realtor. The mansion sits on 4.25 acres of manicured lawns and includes two golf greens, an outdoor fire pit and a private lake.
The future owner of the home will also be able to enjoy a 65-foot infinity edge swimming pool, wine cellar with a tasting room, gym, home theatre and multiple rooftop decks to gaze out at the B.C. Gulf Islands in the distance.
Somerville said the estate’s inflated price might be an intentional sales tactic.
“You might want to ask for more than you actually think you’re going to get in order to create that feeling of a rarified environment and the feeling of getting a discount when you actually sell it,” Somerville said.
The Gables Estate’s new listing price is significantly higher than those of comparable homes recently sold in the neighbourhood. One nearby 11-bedroom mansion sold for $10 million in August, and another 12,000 square foot home on a 3.5 acre lot sold for $8.5 million in May.
With a report from CTV Vancouver
