Photos: Surrey townhouse gets 120 showings, 36 bids and sells over asking for $1,108,000

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      Realtor Alex Tom has never seen anything like this.

      The eXp Realty and Velmont Real Estate Team agent recalls that some of his previous listings had received up to 10 offers or so.

      But the recent one he had in Surrey is something else.

      Tom said that the townhouse got 36 offers.

      Not surprisingly, the three-storey residence with four bedrooms and three baths sold quickly and over the listed price.

      It went for $1,108,000.

      The property is a corner unit at 306-16433 Watson Drive in the Surrey neighbourhood of Fleetwood.

      Tom related that the townhouse had over 120 showings after it came on the market on January 10, 2022.

      “There’s just too little supply of homes for sale for the number of people looking to buy,” Tom told the Straight in a phone interview.

      The property was listed for $798,000, which was below assessment.

      The townhouse has a 2022 assessed value of $808,000.

      After seven days on the market, the home sold on January 17 for $1,108,000.

      The sold price was 37 percent and 38.8 percent over assessment and listed price, respectively.

      Tom noted that the property has a lot of things going for it.

      One of these is that it is a relatively new home, which forms part of the Fleetwood Rise development of Anthem Properties.

      Per B.C. Assessment, it was built in 2017.

      Tom also related that people who went to view the property were talking about the future SkyTrain that is planned nearby.

      They were referring to the 16-kilometre Surrey-Langley rail rapid transit project.

      The SkyTrain will run on an elevated guideway along Fraser Highway, which is near the townhouse complex where Unit 306 sold.

      The rapid transit system will connect Expo Line’s King George Station to Langley Centre.

      Tom noted that residents of the townhouse development will be able to walk to one of the eight stations.

      As well, the COVID-19 pandemic has made work from home possible for many employees.

      “Now that we can work from home, people have more ability to choose where they want to buy property,” Tom said.

      Tom noted that it used to be that many want to purchase a home near where they work.

      The Straight learned about the sale of 306-16433 Watson Drive in Surrey after it reported on January 21 about a deal for a piece of Vancouver real estate.

      That was 950 Ringwood Avenue, which came on the market with a listed price of $1,249,800.

      The detached home received 26 offers, and sold $580,000 over asking for $1,830,000.

      A reader, who goes by the Twitter account of @PartPhil, commented on the social media site that paying $580,000 over asking is “absolutely bananas”.

      The remark attracted the attention of another reader, who goes by as @alex60494.

      “How about $310k over on a fleetwood townhouse” wrote @alex60494, adding an emoji of a face with tears of joy to the post.

      One of the 26 offers for the 950 Ringwood Avenue home in Vancouver was made by a husband and wife, who are clients of Vancouver realtor David Hutchinson.

      Hutchinson’s clients didn’t get the property, even though they placed a bid of nearly $300,000 over the asking price.

      After speaking with Tom regarding the 36 bids for the Surrey townhouse, the Straight circled back to Hutchinson for reaction.

      “When 2022 started, nobody knew what was going to happen,” Hutchinson said by phone.

      “But suddenly,” the Sutton Group-West Coast Realty agent noted, “this particular market detached, the half duplexes and townhouses just exploded.”

      With the 36 offers on the Surrey townhouse and 26 bids on the Vancouver real estate his clients didn’t get, Hutchinson said that this means one thing.

      “There are 60 hungry buyers out there among countless others that are actively swirling the waters of real estate, and ready to throw more money at it,” he said.

      “The question is: is what you're paying today going to be what it's going to be worth when this world returns to normal?” Hutchinson asked.

      The Vancouver realtor added, “It's all spending party right now, but what I'm afraid of is the hangover.” 

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