RealTours is the breakthrough new series from REW.ca that brings you Canadian real estate like you’ve never seen it before. Join us as we embark on an adventure through the Lower Mainland’s most sought-after neighbourhoods, guided by British Columbia’s best realtors.
Intro
Is Mount Pleasant Vancouver’s coolest neighbourhood? It certainly has a lot going for it - great shops, award-winning restaurants and fun nightlife, all attracting a young, trendy population.
The City also has big plans for the area, with an aim to attract tens of thousands of new jobs in the coming years. But without a strategy to create enough housing to match, Mount Pleasant faces skyrocketing home prices and rents that could drive away the exact people that make this neighbourhood so darn cool in the first place.
In this episode of RealTours, Stephen Tadgh explores these issues and Mount Pleasant’s vibrant streets with top realtor Adina Dragasanu.
Welcome to Mount Pleasant
Straddling both the east and west sides of Vancouver, Mount Pleasant is one of the city’s most centrally located communities, running between Cambie Street and Clark Drive with 16th Avenue as a southern border. In the west, 5th Avenue marks the northern border, while east of Ontario Street, it goes as far as Terminal Avenue.
Main Street is Mount Pleasant’s beating heart and the location of its most celebrated restaurants, bars and shops. The recently developed area around False Creek Flats is home to a growing number of businesses and educational institutions, including the new site of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.
That’s not where the development stops, however. As anyone who recently tried to drive down Broadway can attest, the City’s Broadway Corridor Plan is bringing some massive changes to Mount Pleasant and beyond, with a new Skytrain line creating better transport links and new opportunities for housing.
On the housing front, Mount Pleasant really has it all - entry-level condos, townhomes, stratified duplexes and triplexes and detached homes. But even with so much diversity, living in this highly desirable neighbourhood comes at a cost.
Find out more about what it’s like to live in Mount Pleasant.
False Creek Flats
A former industrial area, False Creek Flats has undergone massive changes in recent years. For starters, thousands of new jobs in tech, digital media and healthcare have moved into the area.
“This is a major area that the city is focusing on in terms of job growth,” Dragasanu explains. “There's about 600 businesses and about 8,000 jobs in the region. The City is looking to increase that from 8,000 jobs to over 30,000 jobs in the next 20 years."
This dramatic job growth means property owners in Mount Pleasant are set to see home values rise as demand to live here increases. Good news if you already own here, but what about for people who are looking to buy in the near future?
Dragasanu says the time to act is now. "When we're looking at buying real estate, especially as someone who's a first-time buyer or trying to build their wealth through real estate, you want to look at an area where you have a lot of infrastructure growth. That's certainly what Mount Pleasant has more than any other area in Vancouver."
Entry-level condos are becoming increasingly popular around the False Creek Flats area, including junior one-bedrooms - smaller units that start around 450 to 500 square feet.
Main Street
The area around Main and Broadway is arguably Mount Pleasant’s most vibrant. Boutique stores sit next to Michelin-starred restaurants and award-winning microbreweries. Newer condo buildings line the street, creating options for first-time buyers and investors.
“A lot of young professionals who are just wanting to be in an up and coming neighbourhood move here,” says Dragasanu. “We see a lot of people who live around here really value that lifestyle aspect - they want to stay central to where their community is and be able to walk and bike everywhere."
The Main Street corridor is surrounded by residential areas. As you head south, you start seeing more variety in the housing stock - a mix of older condos, townhomes, older homes that have been stratified and detached properties.
Mount Pleasant Park
On the southern edge of the neighbourhood, you’ll find Mount Pleasant Park, a grassy community hangout with a playground, picnic tables, a community garden and a skate park. At first glance, you'd be forgiven for thinking this area is primarily made up of single-family homes. But many of these beautiful older properties have been stratified and now contain between two and five units.
“What you've been able to do is preserve the character and the residential feel of this neighbourhood while adding more density in a very sensible way,” says Dragasanu. “I actually think it's one of the most interesting neighbourhoods in Vancouver because of that."
This push for densification also has an impact on prices. Detached homes around here could go for up to $5 million, whereas a two-bedroom stratified unit might be closer to $1.5 million.
“I think this is a stepping stone for young buyers with families,” Dragasanu explains. “It's also a stepping stone for downsizers who want to be able to stay in the neighbourhood but don't want the maintenance of a big house."
Our Guide
If you’ve been following the RealTours journey, you should already recognize Adina Dragasanu. She took part in a pilot episode of the series last summer, exploring the Cambie neighbourhood. She did such an incredible job that bringing her back for Season One was an easy decision.
With over 14 years of experience, Dragasanu is someone you want at your side wherever you are in your homeseeking journey. The former Mount Pleasant resident got into real estate fresh out of university, despite some reservations from her parents.
“My parents put a lot of effort into getting me to university,” she remembers. “I had some big internships working in marketing roles, but what I found when I was working in marketing was that I wasn't as connected to the people I was working with as I wanted to be.”
That connection to her clients is a huge part of Dragasanu’s success. She doesn’t believe a client relationship ends when a home is purchased. Instead, it’s about building a plan for the future.
“A great realtor will help you assess your options, understand the trade offs and really understand which of those options are going to best help you get to where you want to be, not just now but in three, five, ten years from now."
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Attribution: Find out what Mt. Pleasant is really like with RealTours - rew.ca
