When did Gastown studios for $1,900 a month become a good deal?

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      How much are you willing to pay for a decent apartment in Gastown?

      An opening for a great-looking studio at a development called the Paris Block was posted on Craigslist today.

      It features exposed brick, polished concrete floors, and stainless-steel kitchen countertops. There’s also a balcony overlooking one of the city’s busiest methadone clinics.

      At $1,900 per month (including parking), it’s not exactly cheap. But it’s also not on the high end of the scale for apartments in Vancouver’s trendiest neighbourhood.

      It’s also a reasonable size: 700 square feet (albeit shaped as one long shoebox).

      Craigslist

      And at the corner of West Hastings and Abbott streets, its location couldn’t be more convenient. Whether you’re looking for organic vegetables at Nesters or interested in a taste of whatever they're peddling down the street from Carnegie these days, countless amenities are a short walk from your front door.

      $1,900 might sound like a lot for no bedroom. But measured by cost per square foot, this listing is cheaper than converted SROs renting as “micro lofts” nearby. For example, units at the Burns Block at 18 West Hastings have been spotted on Craigslist for as much as $1,100 per month for less than 300 square feet. And rooms 500-square-feet large at 1 East Cordova (directly across from Pigeon Park) have been posted online for as much as $1,300 per month.

      I guess $1,900 for a real studio should be expected when tidied-up SROs are going for more than $1,000.

      Comments

      5 Comments

      Save Vancouver

      Sep 4, 2014 at 8:19am

      When? When Vision Vancouver came to power. After all Councillor Kerry Jang famously informed us that "affordable housing is something that somebody can afford". The old saying goes "all the world's a stage", but apparently "all the city's a real estate play" for Gregor and Vision.

      Right to Rent?

      Sep 4, 2014 at 8:40am

      A "good deal" in real-estate tends to be relative, same as for anything else. It's not like there's some absolute "reasonable" value for housing. It's worth what people will pay. If places are advertised at these rates, it's likely people will pay, unless there's some sort of complicated tax scheme where the projected value of rents is involved, but I doubt that. So it's basically that these parts of Vancouver are becoming high-end. These things happen.

      For the families from the city that have invested long-term, this is a good thing.

      tedeastside

      Sep 4, 2014 at 1:49pm

      nobody will rent these, they have been sitting there empty for months, vancouver is a low wage city with dismal job opportunity , nobody will pay those prices to rent

      vancouver is dead end backwater , and just an overpriced tourist trap. vancouver doesnt even deserve young dynamic people, thats why they're all leaving..now its just empty condos and empty storefronts everywhere

      hola dude

      Sep 4, 2014 at 3:54pm

      Hey tedeastside, time to pull your head out of east van, mannnnn..

      stuartm

      Sep 4, 2014 at 4:07pm

      You can thank the Vision developer party for this... even Meggs himself stated that paying $1,400 a month for a mico-condo was "affordable" ... anything to appease their developer funders.