I want to talk about timing today because I think a lot of Richmond and Burnaby condo owners who have been considering the move up to a townhome are about to face a decision point that is worth thinking through carefully.

The fall real estate market in Metro Vancouver typically reactivates in September. Listings pick up. Buyers who spent August on the sidelines come back. The energy in the market shifts noticeably from the quieter summer pace. And this year, there is a specific dynamic layered on top of that seasonal pattern that I think changes the calculus for upsizers in a meaningful way.

CMHC's 2026 housing market outlook projects that buyers will act ahead of expected higher mortgage rates in 2027. Let me be clear about what that means in practice. If that projection is accurate, the fall of 2026 is going to see a wave of demand from people who have been sitting on the fence, who have watched the market stabilize, who have seen rates hold steady at manageable levels, and who have decided that waiting any longer carries more risk than acting. That demand coming back into the market simultaneously is what shifts conditions from buyer-friendly to something more competitive.

We are already seeing early signals of this. Realtors across the Greater Vancouver region are reporting multiple offer situations returning on well-priced properties under $1.8 million.Burnaby North and South are showing townhome demand that is exceptional, with benchmark prices up 5.2 percent year over year in that segment. These are not widespread market-wide conditions yet. But they are appearing in the exact segments and locations that Richmond and Burnaby upsizers are shopping in.

Here is the picture as I see it from where I sit in this market every day.

The Richmond market right now still has 2,059 active listings with an absorption rate of 5.4 percent and an average sold price of $1,136,078. Properties are selling in 40 days on average. That is still a buyer's market by definition. The townhome segment specifically has 403 active listings, an absorption rate of 8.7 percent, and an average sold price of $1,025,442, with homes selling in 33 days. Prices in the townhome segment are already up 1.3 percent from the 90-day average.

If you are selling a condo to buy a townhome, the question is not just about the market for the thing you are buying. It is about the market for the thing you are selling. Right now the condo segment is soft. Apartment sales across Metro Vancouver fell 17.8 percent year over year in July, the steepest decline of any property type. If CMHC's 2027 rate projection brings buyers back into the market in September and October, that softness in the apartment segment is one of the first things that changes. The buyers who have been sitting out the condo market come back first because condos are the most accessible entry point for people who have been waiting on the sidelines.

What that means for you as an upsizer is that your condo may be easier to sell in October than it is today, but the townhome you are trying to buy may also be more competitive in October than it is today. The two sides of your transaction do not necessarily move in your favour at the same time.

This is the nuance that I think most people miss when they think about timing. It is not just about when the market is best for buyers. It is about the window where the condo you are selling and the townhome you are buying are both in conditions that work for your transition simultaneously. That window exists right now and the data suggests it may begin to close as fall approaches.

I am not telling you to panic. Upsizing is a significant decision and it needs to make sense for your life, your finances, and your timeline. What I am saying is that if you have been planning to make this move and you have been waiting for a reason to start the process, the combination of current market conditions and the forward-looking rate environment is a reasonable reason to start now rather than in three months.

Properties that are sitting past 30 days on a properly-priced listing currently mean room to negotiate three to seven percent off the list price. On a $1.1 million townhome, that negotiating room is $33,000 to $77,000. That is the kind of number that changes what your transition looks like financially.

If you want to sit down and map out what your upsizing move looks like from start to finish before the fall market kicks in, reach out. I work in Richmond and Burnaby every day and I can give you a clear, honest picture of where you stand.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

The July 2026 GVR numbers contained a statistic that sounds alarming if you read it without context. Apartment sales across Metro Vancouver fell 17.8 percent year over year in July. The steepest decline of any property type in the region. And the composite benchmark price dropped to $1,088,800, down 6.2 percent from a year ago, the sharpest annual decline among Canada's largest markets.

I want to explain why, if you are a first-time buyer looking at condos in Richmond, this number is not something to run away from. It is something to run toward.

When apartment sales fall faster than any other segment, it means one specific thing. Sellers in the condo market are competing harder for a smaller pool of active buyers. They know their competition is not just the unit down the hall but every other condo in the building, every other building on the block, and every comparable project within a ten minute walk of the Canada Line. In that environment, sellers become realistic. Pricing gets sharper. Subject offers get accepted. Possession date flexibility comes back to the table. The experience of buying a condo in Richmond right now is genuinely different from what it was in 2021 or 2022, and different in every way that matters to a buyer.

The Richmond condo market right now has an absorption rate of 5.4 percent with 2,059 active listings across all property types and an average sold price of $1,136,078. Prices are trending up 4.2 percent compared to the 90-day average, which tells you the floor is forming even as the year-over-year numbers still show decline. That divergence between the short term trend and the long term comparison is one of the clearest signals a market can give you about where things are heading.

Now here is the piece that I think changes the conversation for anyone who has been watching and waiting.

CMHC released their 2026 housing market outlook and it contains something that deserves your full attention. They are forecasting that buyers will act ahead of expected higher mortgage rates in 2027. That is not a headline. That is a structural warning about the timeline of this window. If mortgage rates move higher in 2027, the affordability that exists right now, five year fixed rates in the low to mid four percent range, the 30 year amortization for insured mortgages, the combination of government programs that makes a first purchase in Richmond achievable, all of that gets harder. Not impossible. But harder.

I am not going to tell you that rates are definitely going up in 2027. Nobody can tell you that with certainty. What I will tell you is that the people at CMHC who spend their careers modeling the Canadian housing market are projecting it, and that projection is already beginning to shape buyer behaviour in a way that will become more visible as fall approaches and the September market reopens.

In Richmond specifically, the Canada Line corridor remains where I would be focused as a first-time buyer. The Capstan Village story I wrote about a few weeks ago is still unfolding. Brighouse, Lansdowne, and Aberdeen give you the kind of transit walkability that holds resale value over time in a way that more car-dependent areas simply do not. The buildings coming online in West Cambie have EV charging, modern layouts, and strata councils starting with clean slates and fully funded reserves, which matters enormously now that depreciation reports are mandatory.

The combination of a soft apartment market and a forward-looking rate environment is, in my read, the clearest signal this market has given first-time buyers in Richmond since the correction began. The softness is still here. The affordability tools are still here. The negotiating room is still here. What is changing is the timeline for how long all three of those things exist simultaneously.

If you have been thinking about your first place in Richmond and you are not sure what your numbers actually look like, that is the conversation I want to have with you. Reach out.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

The GVR released their July 2026 numbers on August 4th and the headline was blunt. Home sales across Metro Vancouver fell nearly ten percent relative to July last year, erasing the ten percent gain we saw in June that had everyone talking about a potential market shift. The GVR's own language for it was direct: sales lost brief momentum.

I want to give you my honest read of what that means if you are a condo owner in Richmond or Burnaby thinking about upsizing to a townhome, because I think the interpretation matters as much as the number itself.

One month does not make a trend. June's broad gains across all housing types were genuinely notable and Andrew Lis at GVR was right to flag them as a potential early signal of a shift. July pulling back does not erase that signal. What it tells you is that the recovery, if that is what we are seeing, is not going to be a straight line upward. It is going to look like what every real estate recovery in this market has looked like historically: two steps forward, one step back, slow and uneven until the momentum becomes undeniable. We are somewhere in the early stages of that sequence right now.

What has not changed despite the July pullback is more important than what has.

The August 2026 Vancouver real estate market analysis notes that this is one of the most favourable move-up markets Greater Vancouver has seen in nearly a decade, with inventory up, rates meaningfully lower than two years ago, and sellers of larger homes increasingly negotiable. The composite benchmark across Metro Vancouver sits at $1,099,100, down six percent from a year ago. The townhome benchmark is $1,046,200. The condo benchmark is $695,200. Both sides of your upsizing transaction have corrected from their peak. The price gap between condos and townhomes has compressed meaningfully since 2022.

In Richmond specifically, the market conditions that have made this a favourable environment for move-up buyers remain intact. The overall absorption rate sits at 5.4 percent. The townhome segment specifically has an 8.7 percent absorption rate with 403 active listings and an average sold price of $1,025,442, selling in 33 days. That is the most active segment in the city and it has been consistently so for several months now. One slow July in the overall market does not change what is happening in this specific segment.

The average list-to-sale price ratio in Metro Vancouver for July 2026 came in at around 96.8 percent, meaning sellers are accepting offers roughly 3.2 percent below their asking price on average. That negotiating room is real and it exists right now across Richmond and Burnaby townhomes. For an upsizer buying in the $1 million to $1.2 million range, a 3 percent negotiation off asking price is $30,000 to $36,000 of real money that goes directly toward your transition costs, your renovations, or simply staying in a stronger financial position after the move.

The other thing I want to name directly is what the August market environment looks like on the ground for motivated buyers. August is traditionally one of the quieter months for buyer activity. Families are wrapping up summer. Back to school is approaching. The urgency that characterizes spring and fall markets is absent. That means sellers who have been sitting on the market through July are increasingly motivated as August progresses, and the competition from other buyers is lighter than it will be in September when the fall market traditionally reactivates.

Analysts tracking the Vancouver market are noting that buyers who act between now and spring 2027 are likely to look back on this period as one of the more favourable entry points before the next round of potential rate changes pulls sidelined demand back into the market and shifts leverage back toward sellers. I am not going to put a date on when that happens because nobody can. But the logic of that argument is sound and it aligns with what I am seeing in Richmond and Burnaby week to week.

If you have been watching this market from the sidelines and one slow July headline has you thinking the moment has passed, I want to be direct with you. It has not. The conditions that make this a good time to move up are structural, not monthly. They are about the relationship between where prices are, where rates are, and how much inventory sellers are competing against. None of those three things changed materially in July.

If you are ready to have a real conversation about what the move looks like for your specific situation, I am here for it.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

There is a regulatory change that came into effect in BC on July 1, 2026 that I think every first-time buyer looking at condos in Richmond needs to understand. It is not getting nearly enough attention and it directly affects the quality of the decision you are making when you buy a strata property here.

As of July 1, 2026, every strata corporation in Metro Vancouver with five or more units must have a current depreciation report on file. Not optional. Not subject to a vote. Mandatory. The provision that previously allowed three quarters of owners to vote to defer or waive their depreciation report is completely gone. Any building that either has no depreciation report at all, or has one dated before December 31, 2020, was required to obtain a new one by this deadline.

For first-time buyers, this is genuinely good news. Let me explain why.

A depreciation report is a detailed assessment of everything a strata corporation is responsible for maintaining, from the roof and elevator to the plumbing, electrical systems, parking structure, and building envelope. It forecasts major repair and replacement costs over a 30 year horizon and evaluates whether the contingency reserve fund is adequately funded to cover those costs. It is, in essence, the financial health check of the building you are thinking about buying into.

Before this rule change, the old opt-out provision meant that poorly managed buildings with things to hide could and did avoid getting updated reports by simply voting to defer them year after year. Buyers could find themselves reviewing a depreciation report from 2015 on a building where major systems had aged considerably since then. That gap in information was genuinely risky and buyers often had no way of knowing how outdated the picture they were looking at actually was.

That loophole is now closed. When you submit an offer on a Richmond condo today, the Form B information certificate that must be provided to you is required to include the most recent depreciation report. If the building does not have one, or has one that predates December 31, 2020, the strata is now in violation of BC law. That is information you and your realtor need to know before you remove subjects.

What should you be looking for when you actually read the depreciation report? A few things matter most. First, the funding model. A well-run strata is contributing enough to its contingency reserve fund each month to cover the repair timeline outlined in the report without requiring a special levy. If the report shows a roof replacement needed in four years and the reserve fund has $40,000 when the projected cost is $400,000, you are looking at a building where every owner, including you if you buy, will likely face a significant special levy in the near future. Second, look at the age and condition ratings of the major building components. An elevator that is rated at end of life, plumbing that has already exceeded its expected service period, or a parking structure with waterproofing issues are all flags that go beyond the monthly strata fee you see in the listing. Third, check whether the report is current. Under the new rules, reports must be updated on a five year cycle. A report from 2022 is still valid. A report from 2019 is not and the building should have a newer one in hand now.

In the current Richmond market, where you have real time to do this due diligence, where subjects are being accepted as a standard part of offers, and where 40 days on market gives you the space to actually read and understand what you are buying into, this regulatory change is a genuine gift to first-time buyers. You now have access to a more complete and legally mandated picture of building health than buyers at any point in the last decade.

I read depreciation reports with my clients as part of every purchase process. It is one of the most important things I do. If you want to understand what to look for and how to assess a building's financial health before you commit, that is exactly the kind of conversation I am here for.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

Every August in this market, the same thing happens. Volume drops. Listings sit a little longer. People go on holiday. And the narrative shifts to one of those recurring "quiet summer" stories that real estate commentators lean on every year when the data slows down.

The July 2026 GVR numbers fit that template on the surface. Residential sales across Greater Vancouver came in at 2,061, down 9.8 percent from July 2025. A slow month, by any read. But I want to talk about the detail underneath that headline, because for upsizers in Richmond who have been watching and waiting, it changes the picture in a way that matters.

Total inventory across Metro Vancouver continued to fall year over year in July. That is not a summer seasonality story. That is a structural shift in the supply picture that has been building quietly for several months. And when you combine falling inventory with a sales rate that, even at its current reduced pace, is gradually absorbing what is available, you get a market that is tightening from underneath while everyone is focused on the slow summer headline.

For a condo owner in Richmond thinking about upsizing to a townhome, here is what that means practically.

The Richmond townhouse market has 403 active listings with an absorption rate of 8.7 percent and an average sold price of $1,025,442. Properties in this segment are selling in 33 days on average and prices are already up 1.3 percent from the 90-day average. I wrote about this a few weeks ago and the picture has not changed. Townhouses are the most active segment in Richmond right now, and they are the segment where inventory is tightest relative to demand. As the broader inventory picture continues to tighten across the region, the townhouse segment is likely to feel that first.

On the condo side, the median home price in Richmond sits at $860,000 across all property types, down just 1.1 percent from a year ago. The apartment benchmark across Greater Vancouver is $695,200. These are not the collapsing prices that some buyers have been waiting for. The correction happened. It was real and meaningful. But the floor has largely formed and the market is showing early signs of stabilization rather than continued decline. If you bought your condo before 2022, your equity is almost certainly in better shape than the current narrative suggests.

The summer slowdown actually creates a specific tactical opportunity for upsizers that I want to name directly. When volume is lower and buyers are distracted by holidays and back-to-school planning, motivated sellers are more willing to deal. The townhome seller who has been on the market for 45 days heading into late August is thinking about the fall market and what it means to relist in September. That mindset creates negotiating room that you would not have in a higher-volume environment. August and early September is quietly one of the better times of year to make a move as a buyer.

The composite benchmark price across Metro Vancouver sits at $1,099,100, down six percent from a year ago. The townhome benchmark is $1,046,200, down five percent. The condo benchmark is $695,200, down 7.1 percent. Both sides of the upsizing equation have corrected. The spread between where you are and where you want to be is as manageable as it has been in several years.

I work in Richmond and Burnaby every day and I have a clear picture of what is available right now, what is priced well, and what the negotiating landscape looks like building by building and street by street. If you have been thinking about making the move from a condo to a townhome and you have been waiting for a reason to act, the combination of falling inventory, a motivated seller environment, and prices that have already corrected is about as clear a signal as this market gives.

Let's sit down and look at your numbers. I think you might be closer than you think.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

The GVR just released their July 2026 numbers and there is a detail buried in the headline that I think first-time buyers in Richmond need to understand right now.

Sales across Greater Vancouver came in at 2,061 in July, down 9.8 percent from the same month last year. That is the number everyone is running with. Slow summer. Quiet market. Take your time. And on the surface, that reading makes sense.

But here is what the headline misses. Total inventory across Metro Vancouver is continuing to fall year over year. That means the pool of available homes is getting smaller, not larger, even as sales volumes remain below historical averages. Think about what that combination means. Fewer sales and falling inventory at the same time. The supply that has been keeping this market firmly in buyer's territory for the better part of two years is starting to draw down. Quietly. Without much fanfare. But it is happening.

In Richmond specifically, the numbers tell a similar story. The market still has 2,059 active listings and an absorption rate of 5.4 percent. The average sold price sits at $1,136,078 with homes selling in 40 days. By definition, this is still a buyer's market and you still have the conditions that have made the last 18 months so favourable for buyers who were prepared to act. Subject offers. Negotiating room. Time to review strata documents properly before committing. All of that is still available to you right now.

What is changing is the direction. And direction is everything in real estate.

The median home price in Richmond sits at $860,000 across all property types, down just 1.1 percent from a year ago according to the latest Zealty data. That is a remarkably small decline for a market that has been in buyer's territory for as long as this one has. It tells you that Richmond is holding its value better than the narrative suggests, and that the correction the market went through was more of a healthy reset than a structural collapse.

For a first-time buyer looking at condos specifically, the apartment benchmark across Greater Vancouver sits at $695,200. Richmond prices are trending up 4.2 percent compared to the 90-day average. The entry-level product that exists along the Canada Line corridor in Brighouse, Lansdowne, and now Capstan Village is still accessible at price points that, combined with the government programs available to first-time buyers, make genuine homeownership in Richmond achievable for people who have done the preparation work.

Here is what I tell every first-time buyer I am working with right now. The question is never whether this is the perfect moment in the market cycle. Perfect moments do not exist and nobody rings a bell when they arrive. The question is whether the conditions are favourable enough that a prepared buyer can make a sound decision. Right now they are. Prices have corrected. Rates are workable. Programs are stacked in your favour. Inventory is still elevated but falling. The window where all of those things are true simultaneously is not permanent.

The programs worth knowing about have not changed but they are worth repeating. The First Home Savings Account and RRSP Home Buyers Plan combined give you access to up to $100,000 in tax sheltered savings for your down payment. The federal GST rebate on new builds under one million dollars can save you up to $50,000. The 30 year amortization for insured mortgages has been available since late 2024. And five year fixed rates are still sitting in the low to mid four percent range, which is a long way from the environment buyers were navigating two years ago.

If you have been watching this market and you feel like you might be getting close to ready, I would genuinely encourage you to have a conversation before you feel like you have missed something. That is a much better place to be than scrambling after the window has closed.

Reach out anytime. I am here.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

I want to talk about something that does not show up in the standard market stats but that I think matters quite a bit for anyone who owns a condo in Richmond and is thinking about making the move to a townhome.

There is a concept in real estate called shadow inventory. It refers to properties that are not yet listed on the MLS but are coming. Unsold developer units that are sitting in completed or near-completed buildings waiting to be released. Owners who have been thinking about selling but have been waiting to see if the market improves before listing. Investors who bought presales years ago that are now completing, and who need to decide whether to hold or sell into a market that has shifted significantly from where they expected it to be when they signed.

In Richmond right now, that shadow inventory is real and it is worth understanding before you make your move. Active resale condo inventory in Richmond has nearly doubled in 24 months, rising from 472 listings in January 2024 to 938 listings as of late 2025, and the market entered 2026 with the expectation of continuing absorption. The presale market has 66 active developments in Richmond ranging from completion dates in 2026 through to 2029. As those buildings complete and units hit the market, either as resales or developer releases, they add to the supply picture that buyers are navigating.

For a condo owner who is selling to upsize, understanding this dynamic is important for two reasons. First, it tells you something about pricing your condo correctly when you list. This is not a market where you can afford to be aggressive on asking price and wait for a buyer to come to you. Richmond's overall absorption rate sits at 5.4 percent with 111 sales in the last 30 days against 2,059 active listings. The buyers are there but they have options. Pricing sharp and presenting well is not optional in this environment. It is the difference between a 40-day sale and a 90-day one.

Second, and more importantly for upsizers, the shadow inventory picture actually works in your favour on the purchase side. The townhome market in Richmond right now has 403 active listings with an absorption rate of 8.7 percent and an average sold price of $1,025,442. That is the most active segment in the city. But the presence of broader inventory overhang in the condo segment means that sellers of townhomes, particularly those who are also trying to move up or move on, are acutely aware of the market they are selling into. That awareness translates into negotiating room for you as the buyer. Sellers who understand that their next purchase is also happening in a buyer's market tend to be more reasonable on price and conditions than sellers who feel like they are the only ones making concessions.

The townhome you are stepping into has also corrected from its peak. The GVR benchmark for attached homes across Greater Vancouver sits at $1,046,200, down five percent from June 2025. You are not buying high. You are buying in a market where prices have adjusted and where, as I mentioned last week, the average sold price for Richmond townhouses is already showing a 1.3 percent uptick from the 90-day average. The floor is forming in the townhome segment.

The mechanics of the upsizing transition are worth thinking through carefully in this environment. When you list your condo, you want to have your financing in order on the purchase side before you are under contract on the sale side, because the bridge between the two transactions needs to be mapped out clearly. The good news is that five year fixed rates in the low to mid four percent range make that math more workable than it was in 2023. And the 30 year amortization option for new construction purchases gives upsizers who are buying a newer townhome some additional monthly payment flexibility that was not available 18 months ago.

Hamilton and West Cambie continue to be the neighbourhoods I focus on most for upsizer clients in Richmond. Newer builds, modern layouts, EV charging, well-funded stratas. Steveston for those who want the lifestyle and have the budget for the premium it commands. The Capstan corridor for anyone who wants new construction with Canada Line access at a price point below the established stations.

If you have been sitting on the upsizing decision and the shadow inventory story feels complicated, that is exactly why having someone who knows this market deeply in your corner makes a difference. I work in Richmond every day. I know what is sitting in pipeline and what is actively selling. That context changes how you approach both sides of your transaction.

Let's talk.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby

I want to talk about something specific this week because I think there is a neighbourhood story playing out in Richmond that most people buying their first place are not paying enough attention to.

Capstan Village.

If you have been watching the Richmond condo market at all, you have probably seen listings in this area pop up more frequently over the last year or so. There is a reason for that. The Capstan Canada Line station opened in late 2024 and it has been quietly transforming a stretch of central Richmond that was, for a long time, an afterthought for buyers focused on Brighouse or Lansdowne. Now it is genuinely worth a serious look, and for first-time buyers specifically, the timing could not be better.

Here is the market context first. Richmond currently has 2,059 active listings across all property types with 111 sales in the last 30 days, an average sold price of $1,136,078, and an absorption rate of 5.4 percent. Properties are selling in an average of 40 days. That is a buyer's market by any definition. Across Greater Vancouver, the apartment benchmark sits at $695,200, down 7.1 percent from June 2025. Prices have corrected. Selection is high. The conditions for a first-time buyer who knows what they are looking for are about as good as this market gets.

Now back to Capstan. The new Canada Line station puts you directly on the transit network connecting Richmond to downtown Vancouver, YVR, and the broader Metro Vancouver system. That access fundamentally changes what it means to live in this part of Richmond. The walkability score has improved dramatically for anyone whose life takes them along the Canada Line corridor. And crucially, the new builds that have come online in Capstan Village in the last 18 to 24 months are some of the most thoughtfully designed product I have seen come to market in Richmond in a while. Modern layouts that actually reflect how people live today. EV charging infrastructure built into the parkade rather than retrofitted. Strata councils that are starting fresh with new buildings and fully funded contingency reserves rather than playing catch-up on decades of deferred maintenance.

The presale market in Richmond right now has 66 active developments ranging from the $500,000 range upward, with six developments currently offering buyer incentives and units completing between 2026 and 2029. If you are a first-time buyer who qualifies for the federal GST rebate on new builds under one million dollars, the savings on a presale purchase in this price range can be up to $50,000. That is real money and it is available right now.

I want to be honest about what Capstan Village is and is not. It is not Steveston. It does not have that village feel and the waterfront walks and the historic character that make Steveston genuinely special. It is a new neighbourhood that is still building its identity. But what it does have is direct Canada Line access, new building stock with modern amenities, and pricing that is meaningfully more accessible than the established Canada Line stops at Brighouse and Lansdowne. For a first-time buyer who is prioritizing transit access, building quality, and long-term value growth as the neighbourhood matures, that combination is compelling.

Five year fixed mortgage rates are sitting in the mid four percent range right now, and the 30 year amortization for first-time buyers purchasing newly built homes remains in effect, lowering monthly payments meaningfully. The stress test is still a reality, as it always is, but the qualifying rate is substantially more manageable than it was 18 months ago.

If you are a first-time buyer in Richmond and you have not looked seriously at what Capstan Village offers right now, I think it is worth your time. I am happy to walk you through what is available, what I would and would not buy in this area, and what the strata landscape looks like in the newer buildings there. That is the kind of conversation that takes an hour and can save you a lot of second-guessing later.

Reach out whenever you are ready.

Neville Mak, REALTOR® The Real Brokerage 778-688-6667 | nevillemakre@gmail.com | nevillemak.ca Serving Richmond and Burnaby