Is anywhere in greater Vancouver / Vancouver suburbs still affordable?

May 15, 2023 9:17 AM

Just spitballing here: any areas good for kids and sort of affordable?

Presume a tech couple working wherever the tech companies are, willing to tolerate 30-40min commute and paying say 1.2ish for a house (but 1.7 totally out of the question). Suburbs are fine! Small town too I suppose? Not really into the condo life with kids unless good case is made for it.

Are there any areas left to live that would be affordable, have good schools and decent houses? Or is everything in Vancouver + suburbs 2m and just forget it.

Even oddball ideas like “live in Hope and commute once a week!” might be considered. Thanks!

posted by St. Peepsburg to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

Best answer: I think you might be able to get a townhouse in the Coquitlam vicinity for around $1.2m. ~40-45 mins. to downtown.
posted by praemunire at 9:29 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Are you set on a fully detached HOUSE house, or willing to consider a townhouse/half duplex situation? I think the latter is still fully doable in Burnaby/New West/Coquitlam/Surrey. Of course the closer in you are, the more you will compromise on size/niceness.
posted by btfreek at 9:43 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Townhouse / duplex is OK, especially if the layout / size and good school access offsets that. The heart also wants a decent yard. But I get it, in BC nature is your back yard etc.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:49 AM on May 15, 2023

Best answer: Oh! The other day I was visiting a friend who had just moved to Queensborough (the bit of New West across the bridge next to Annacis Island) and remember thinking it looked very "young family" friendly - lots of new townhouse/single family development, cute separated bike path along the main road, shiny new community centre etc. From a quick look at realtor.ca a single house miiight be stretching it but lots of townhouses etc being built, so might be worth checking out. Not a parent but I know lots of em around here and everyone just sends their kids to the neighbourhood school and is generally fine with it - I think of the preoccupation over "good schools" as more of a US thing but maybe I just don't run in the right circles for that. You'll definitely need a car, maybe two.
posted by btfreek at 10:03 AM on May 15, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I just moved from Port Coquitlam out to Aldergrove, and I feel both are still worth looking at if you’re willing to look at townhouses. Detached houses under 1.2 are probably a stretch in Aldergrove/Abbotsford but might be possible. Of course the commute is a fair amount longer. But I loved PoCo, still do, would move back in a heartbeat if I could, and you could definitely get a nice 3 bedroom townhouse for that. IME, townhouse life is much closer to home life (as compared to condo life) but without some of the pains of home ownership/maintenance. Of course, you have to pay strata fees and deal with all that, so it really depends if thats a deal breaker for you. The commute isn’t horrible since you’re not crossing the Fraser.
posted by cgg at 10:33 AM on May 15, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: The short answer to this is "no". We're in this situation, currently in a 2br condo in East Van, with 3 small kids. It's workable for now, but we'll need a solution to this problem at some point. If you really want the house+big yard, then what people seem to be doing now is finding remote work, and living on the Island/sunshine coast. We'll probably end up compromising, and going the 1/2 duplex route/townhouse route, which while not in any way affordable, are at least still possible, maybe?. Zealty is good, you can plug in your requirements and then zoom out until you start seeing things that fit your criteria.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 12:18 PM on May 15, 2023 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I'd say if you can accept townhouse, there's a lot of developments near the various skytrain lines. If you live walking distance from a station, commuting into downtown won't be terrible. We have a townhouse, no yard, which is now above your range, but wasn't when we bought, 3 bedrooms, big enough for kids. I commute 45 minutes - 1 hour, but only 3 times a week, and it's via transit so I catch up on podcasts and audiobooks.
Condo life can be fine with kids - we're in a mixed townhouse / condo development, so we get access to a pool and gym. There are now a ton of kids in any building with larger units, so my kids have a built in peer group. No yard, but there's a shared courtyard that all the kids play in, which is reasonable.
posted by Valancy Rachel at 1:04 PM on May 15, 2023

Best answer: North Van is also worth considering, with a nice commute to downtown via SeaBus. It's possible to buy a decently sized townhouse for around 1.2-1.3, but inventory is very low right now.
posted by RGD at 1:28 PM on May 15, 2023

Best answer: Langley might be an option with a slightly longer commute to Vancouver. Several of my coworkers with young children live there because they wanted the house and backyard situation.
posted by vanitas at 7:09 PM on May 15, 2023

Best answer: I wish I could say yes - but I'm not aware of any such locations. This is the big one: "wherever the tech companies are, willing to tolerate 30-40min commute". I don't know where all of the tech companies are though. There might be some in Burnaby, and Coquitlam and around has the reputation of being possible for young families but that's been the case for a while so I don't know if it's still true. I would take a look at Coquitlam and surrounding areas. Langley is really far from where I'm guessing the tech companies are.
posted by lookoutbelow at 8:21 PM on May 15, 2023

Best answer: Also take a look at North Vancouver, I've heard good things about the schools and the sea bus is fairly frequent.
posted by lookoutbelow at 8:25 PM on May 15, 2023