"The residential came but the retail came first," Heed sai
d.
Bruce Robinson, president and co-owner of Hugh & McKinnon Realty Ltd., grew up in White Rock and said buyers have a new-found comfort level with White Rock. The community isn't conceived as separate from the rest of the Lower Mainland to the degree that it once was.
Development and immigration in neighbouring municipalities have helped effect the shift, he believes, with young professionals and Chinese buyers now seeing White Rock as a close alternative to Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond.
"They feel comfortable enough now that we're not out in the boonies," he said.
It's an echo of the shift that happened after Expo as Hong Kong buyers entered the market, Robinson said.
"[Residents] cashed out in Richmond, they came out here [and] they could buy the same-size house or a better house out here than they had in Richmond and put money in their pocket," he said. "So people come from overseas and they move into Vancouver, they displace people out of Vancouver, they go to Richmond or they come out here."
Listings down
Now, as the municipalities close to the core densify and people look for more relaxed alternatives, acreages on the Semiahmoo Peninsula are attractive - even with a benchmark price of $1,222,663, almost 1.5 times the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board average. Small wonder locals are willing to take the money they're being offered, cashing out and heading for the Okanagan or the Gulf Islands in search of affordable alternatives relative to what they're leaving.
Which isn't to say that "cash out" is often not as rich or quick as it sounds. Vendors have the luxury of patience, and buyers are willing to wait for the right price.
Fraser Valley Real Estate Board figures indicate that new listings in White Rock have declined by more than 15 per cent over the past year, while detached homes for sale have dropped 16 per cent over the past three years, versus a 17.6 per cent rise from five years ago.
"It's perkin' along. It's just not at the levels we're used to," Robinson said of the current market. "It's good activity, but it's price conscious. You have to be priced accordingly to sell. There's demand when the pricing is appropriate."
The phenomenon is also true for the Chinese buyers who are nosing about the market as well.
"They won't pay too much," he said, the $12-million sale of a Marine Drive property earlier this year notwithstanding. He typically sees Chinese buyers favouring one-acre parcels.
The choice of property also speaks to the fact that White Rock is still very much a lifestyle market, even if the style of life is that of the professional in his or her bedroom community rather than urban refugees and downsizing retirees.
"Though it's not an economic driver, [lifestyle] is a draw to this area. We don't have a particular industry; people move here for the lifestyle," Robinson said, noting the waterfront location - a 2.5-kilometre sandy beach fronts the town - high-quality housing and the calibre of local schools.
Semiahmoo Secondary School offers the international baccalaureate program, for example (a draw for many of the recent Chinese buyers, who want good education in a western setting - something Richmond, with its sizeable Chinese population, doesn't necessarily offer) while Southridge School is a well-respected private school.
"You do see people with financial wherewithal moving here and bringing their kids here for school," Robinson said.
Mixed use
At the other end of the spectrum are the downsizers.
Avra, a 108-unit tower Epta Properties Ltd. is developing across the street from Bosa's mixed-use Miramar towers, has attracted an older buyer from White Rock, West Vancouver and Richmond who wants a waterfront location and community feel. Being situated on the boundary of White Rock and Surrey, the project offers the best of both communities (Semiahmoo Mall is two blocks away) and the opportunity to combine units and customize space so that it fits the styles of those used to more expansive dwellings.
The stability of the area also makes it a destination for investors, local and foreign, as local retail assets underline.
"Capital comes here because it's safe," Robinson said, noting that new storefront space is taken up promptly. "Although some vacancy has come up in some of the more secondary buildings, and there is some vacancy in [Miramar] the new Bosa project in uptown White Rock, in general the market appears to be absorbing new space reasonably well."
Still, Jay Fettinger, a senior adviser/investment banker with BMO Nesbitt Burns in White Rock and president of the South Surrey-White Rock Chamber of Commerce notes that 85 per cent of the chamber's members work in South Surrey - not White Rock. This reflects the pressures on White Rock businesses, some of which have left the city for the neighbouring municipality. While lifestyle sells homes, businesses are clustering north of 16th Avenue in Surrey.
"There are no industrial or commercial manufacturing operations in White Rock but there certainly are a lot of new ones coming into South Surrey," Fettinger said. "We're not seeing any new or innovative businesses coming to White Rock but the existing ones that are there are certainly focusing on the right things that they have to do."
He applauds current Mayor Catherine Ferguson for seeking tax breaks for local businesses, and said businesses realize the city has to work in concert with and take advantage of surrounding development.
"Businesses are recognizing that these are challenges that need to be faced head-on. So we are seeing, from a chamber perspective, some positive things happening in the city," Fettinger said.
from Western Investor, December 2010
