Imagine literally doing nothing and seeing your worth skyrocket by $300,000 in a year.
That’s what is happening to many house owners in Burnaby and beyond – at least according to the latest BC Assessment numbers.
Homes of all types in Burnaby soared in value, according to the BC Assessment service’s latest numbers.
And one of those cashing in is the current owner of my dilapidated Burnaby family home (sadly not our family as we sold in 1986).
The house in North Burnaby on Broadway near Holdom was built in 1957 and is only 1,000 square feet, with an unfinished basement that used to leak every year because it was built with poor drainage. The basement floor was built incorrectly and was not level. We had a ping pong table and if you put the ball on it, that ball would roll off of the table.
The fence in the backyard fell down years ago and was never replaced. So basically nothing has been done to it over the years, but this place somehow skyrocketed by $300,000 in value in just a single year.
The house is now valued at a whopping $1,479,000 – up from $1,189,000. At the start of 2021, this same house had increased in value by $84,000, which is a lot on its own.
It’s frankly terrifying to see such heady numbers – scary, at least, to those who don’t own property. To everyone else, it just puts them that far away from every owning a home.
I look at the home and feel sad that my parents sold it and didn’t hang onto it because, well, it’s worth a fortune today. That’s selfish, of course.
In Burnaby overall, the value of a single-detached house jumped to an average of $1,725,000, a 19% increase from 2020’s $1,449,000. For strata-type homes, such as townhouses and condos, the increase was 10% to $646,000.
My girlfriend looked up the Victoria-area home (built in the 1960s) she renovated five years ago and then sold and it’s gone up $800,000 in value in just five years!
I’m sorry, but this just isn’t normal.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
