The heated Coquitlam housing market may have just set another record.
This time it's a manufactured home in a park on King Edward Avenue in central Coquitlam that just sold for a jaw-dropping price.
According to Zealty.ca, a 36-year-old manufactured home on a rented pad at #59-145 King Edward St. sold for $70,000 over asking after six days on the market.
The double wide, two-bedroom home, located in Millcreek Village — close to restaurants, IKEA, a movie theatre and Real Canadian Superstore — sold for $520,000.
The location was likely a number one motivating factor in the selling price, according to the executive director of the Manufactured (Mobile) Park Owners' Alliance of BC.
Al Kemp said the price is also reflective of activity in the southwestern B.C. housing market, where people are looking for space and privacy at an affordable price.
"It [higher prices for manufactured homes) is becoming more common, I’ll put it that way," said Kemp, whose organization provides information and education, and represents 50 per cent of B.C.'s 900 manufactured home parks.
Prices for manufactured homes have steadily risen in the last two years, said Kemp, who speculated that the pandemic and the ability to work from home helped spark interest in purchasing these types of homes.
Kemp said manufactured homes can be an affordable option, providing the space of a single-family home without the $1.5 million price tag.
In fact, he said, the $520,000 price paid for this manufactured home is about the same as a condo but has the advantage in that there are "no shared walls."'
He acknowledged that owners have to pay pad rental fees, which can range from $700 to $1,100 a month, but condo owners have to pay strata fees and sometimes an additional levy for major repairs.
And unlike condos in tall towers where socializing is limited to a few households on a single floor, people in manufactured homes enjoy a sense of community, where they know their neighbours, Kemp said.
"Residents look out for each other. They supply social events and they take much greater interest in the property because they own the home," Kemp said.
Over the years the stigma attached to living in a "mobile home" has disappeared as newer homes are built to national standards, which makes them more like a wood-frame house with drywall, weather-proofing and a 25-year roof, he said.
And with greater respect has come recognition by banks: You can now get a 25-year mortgage to purchase a manufactured home, and refinance if you need to build a shed or a new roof, said Kemp.
"They're not trailers anymore. They are not mobile homes anymore. They don’t come with wheels. They don’t come with hitches," said Kemp.
Over the years, a few manufactured home parks in Port Moody and Coquitlam have been re-developed, but the provincial Residential Tenancy Act mandates owners of mobile home parks provide a year's notice to tenants if the park is to be redeveloped and the City of Coquitlam has a tenants' assistance policy.
According to REW.ca, prices for mobile homes in Coquitlam currently range from $178,000 for a two-bedroom home on Cayer Street, in the Wildwood Mobile Home Park, to $499,900 for a three-bedroom home at #132-145 King Edward St. in Millcreek Village.
