Even veteran real estate broker Jacky Chan is surprised at the buyer action that met the Curv in Vancouver—the tallest Passive House tower in the world and among the most expensive condo developments the city has ever seen.
Since Montreal-based Brivia Group launched marketing for the uber-green, uber-luxury 60-storey Curv in May 2023, 100 of the condo apartments have pre-sold for an average of more than $2 million each.
These condos span 550-square-foot one-bedroom units that sell for slightly more than $1 million to three-bedroom suites starting at $3 million to sub-penthouses that have sold for upwards of $4,000 to $5,000 per square foot.
The top-floor penthouse, covering an entire floor of 7,300 square feet, is listed at $60 million.
“We were surprised at the both the local demand at these prices and at the number of forward-thinking buyers concerned about the future of climate change,” Chan said, noting CURV sales represented 90 per cent of first offerings and totalled more than $200 million.
Far ahead of the City of Vancouver’s push for the carbon-neutrality of new buildings by 2030, CURV is the most energy-efficient structure of its kind. It meets expectations set for taller buildings in Vancouver to be developed with 50 per cent less carbon pollution compared to already advanced requirements for rezoned developments. And it is being built with up to 90 per cent less carbon pollution compared to towers built in 2014.
Curv sales began after the federal government slapped a two-year ban on foreign home buyers in January 2023. Chan said these sales show the depth of the domestic market.
“There so much money in Vancouver,” he said, noting many affluent buyers already own multiple real estate properties, and are less concerned about rising interest rates than buyers of more moderately priced homes.
The Curv sales experience is an outlier in Vancouver, where slowing condo pre-sales have stalled three major condo tower projects in the city with developers citing high mortgage rates and soaring construction costs.
The 358-unit Curv, which will be the tallest building in Vancouver, is forecast to complete in 2029.
