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Nanaimo penthouse condo lists for $1 million

Prideaux penthouse condo will test if Nanaimo market will bear the asking price
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A luxury penthouse on Prideaux Street, listed at $1 million, will test whether Nanaimo’s real estate market waters prove hot or tepid for top-tier condo pricing. Photo submitted

‘Will it sell for the asking price?’ is the million-dollar question over a luxury penthouse condominium listed in Nanaimo for $1 million.

The condo, at 402-650 Prideaux St., is 1,840 square feet with an additional 800 sq. ft. of wraparound deck and a 270-degree panorama of Nanaimo Harbour, the Strait of Georgia and coastal mountains.

Condos have been listed for $1 million before in Nanaimo, but the market wasn’t ready to bear those prices, according to Cathy Levell, listing agent with MacDonald Realty.

“Fortunately for us, the market is ready for it but we’ve also got a beautiful listing,” Levell said.

She said Nanaimo has been undervalued, but is catching up to where it should be and the listing is advertised in Asian markets where she expects a lot of interest will come from.

“The people who live in [the condo], they had a place in Yaletown,” Levell said. “They loved it because the lifestyle in Yaletown was the same as the lifestyle on Prideaux and … they’re selling this property because they’ve bought a house in the same neighbourhood … because they have grandchildren and they want to play in the yard with them.”

According to the Multiple Listing Service Home Price Index, the benchmark selling price for a single-family home in Nanaimo in May has jumped to $473,000 from $389,700 in May 2016.

Pressures pushing prices are overseas buyers, a shortage of inventory and Lower Mainlanders selling high-priced properties to buy lower-priced Island properties.

Janice Stromar, Vancouver Island Real Estate Board president, said someone could buy the Prideaux penthouse at list, but she’s “not entirely sure the market’s ready for it now.”

“At this point we do have million-dollar sales that are not waterfront. Those are becoming more commonplace, but those are pretty spectacular homes,” Stromar said. “I sold one for almost $1.4 (million) that’s not waterfront, but has an amazing ocean view and it’s 4,200 square feet and it doesn’t come with a strata fee, on a third of an acre and it has a suite.”

She said it’s still important to list homes at a reasonable prices, which can generate more offers, even bidding.

“The more reasonable the amount, the higher the money you get … If you get a listing that generates five, six, seven offers, somebody always loses their mind,” Stromar said. “Five of them come in at, like, five, 10, 15 thousand dollars and then there’s that outlier who just has to win, no matter whether it makes sense or not and then it’s $45,000 over list price.”

Stromar also notes the list-to-sell ratio – percentage of asking price a property sells for – is higher than she’s seen.

“Typically we see … houses are selling for 97 per cent of their list price in a good market. Well, I noticed in April, every single category was 100 per cent or higher, which I’ve never seen,” She said. “So that’s lots, condos, town homes, patio homes and single-family homes and I think the patio homes were 103 per cent of list.”

The Prideaux penthouse price will be put to the test when people come to see it, but because it has just become ready to show, no views as of Friday had been scheduled.

“That whole area has taken a long time to be recognized and it’s about to hit because the prices are still really good,” Levell said. “I mean, people say, ‘Oh, a million dollar condo on Prideaux?’… but the thing is they’re not going to know what hit them. They’re going to miss it. A condo like this in downtown Victoria? It’s got to be triple.”

photos@nanaimobulletin.com



Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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