While land development in Metro Vancouver is challenged this year by nosebleed prices and skittish developers, the largest residential land developments in British Columbia are transforming a Vancouver Island community.
The huge Colwood build is an anomaly as total new home registrations in B.C. through the first half of 2023 fell 23 per cent compared to the first six months of 2022. And, despite the highest home prices in Canada, housing starts could fall even further as developers pull back from buying land.
B.C. residential land sales through the first half of 2023, dominated by Metro Vancouver which accounts for 58 per cent of provincial home starts, were down 80 per cent from a year earlier, according to Avison Young, to $569 million, the lowest level in at least five years.
An acre of residential land in Metro Vancouver now sells for between $4 million and $4.5 million, according to Colliers. In some cases much more.
As the second half started, for instance, a half-acre land assembly on Cambie Street, Vancouver, zoned for 69 multi-family units, transacted for the equivalent of $38 million per acre.
Yet, as housing stars slow in the Lower Mainland, the Greater Victoria community of Colwood is seeing the biggest residential build in the province.
The Beachlands, a 134-acre seaside development in Colwood has just started adjacent to the 240-acre Royal Bay project, where more than 800 homes have already been built and another 2,400 are planned.
In late July, Colwood Mayor Doug Kobayashi joined representatives of Vancouver-based Reliance Properties and Island developer Seacliff Properties for a naming ceremony at the Beachlands, where 2,850 homes will be built.
Reliance chief executive Jon Stovell said the Beachlands brand recognizes the 1.5-km waterfront area within the $1.2-billion development.
“Our waterfront is a cherished treasure that defines our community,” mayor Kobayashi said, adding that the city is excited to work with the developers to realize Colwood’s potential as a cultural destination.
The Beachlands will be a collection of residential neighbourhoods that will also include hundreds of job spaces in commercial buildings and retail spaces.
The developers have submitted subdivision applications for the first two phases, plus a development permit application for a 12,000-square-foot commercial building which will house a two cafés and the Beachlands’ sales centre.
The joint-venture partners plan two multi-family buildings and townhomes for the second phase. More than 47 acres of the Beachlands will be dedicated as public parks and greenspace, some which is already open to the public while the permanent park improvements are constructed.
“The Beachlands is a spectacular property and a unique one, as it was previously operating as a rock and gravel pit for nearly 100 years. It ceased operations back in 2008 and we acquired the site in 2017,” said Georgia Desjardins, director of development for Seacliff Properties.
Seacliff Properties bought the 134 acres in five parcels in 2017 for an estimated total of about $235,000 per acre.
Lower development fees
Lower land prices are not the only incentive to build on the Island rather than the Lower Mainland.
Development cost charges (DCCs) for a new detached house in Colwood are $7,000 and DCCs on strata homes average $4,300. This compares to comparable DCCS of up to $60,000 per house and $15,000 per apartment in suburban Metro Vancouver.
At neighbouring Royal Bay at Colwood, 3,400 homes are planned on 240 acres.
Developer GableCraft has built about 850 homes to date and has about 200 more underway, said chief operating officer Jason Zaytsoff. He said about 10,000 people will eventually live in the entire development as it’s built out over the years.
“One of the best parts of the land is that it was a quarry,” said Zaytsoff. “We’re not cutting down any trees, we’re not displacing anyone. We’re making it better. We’re adding green space and creating a community on what was just a gravel pit and piles of dirt.”
The 500-acre former gravel pit extends to the water on the south side of Metchosin Road, where the Beachlands is being developed.
Colwood’s population, now just under 20,000, is expected to grow 30 per cent by 2038, according to the city, with the Beachlands and Royal Bay leading that growth.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article referred to the Royal Bay project as Royal Beach.
