Grandview Heights: South Surrey's Fastest Growing Community

What is here now

Grandview Corners and the Shops at Morgan Crossing for groceries, restaurants and big-box retail. The Grandview Heights Aquatic Centre on 24 Avenue, one of the best public pools in the region. Edgewood Drive Elementary, Pacific Heights, and Grandview Heights Secondary, which opened to relieve pressure on Earl Marriott. Redwood Park on the hill for the trees and the fairy village. Highway 99 at 24 Avenue and 32 Avenue for the commute, which puts downtown Vancouver about 45 minutes away on a normal morning and the US border five minutes south.

What is being built

Mostly townhomes, in three and four bedroom layouts aimed at families, from a rotating cast of builders. Detached homes on compact lots, often with legal suites, on the quieter interior streets. Condos in the town-centre blocks near the shopping. And, under BC's small-scale housing rules, a growing number of coach houses and duplexes on lots that were planned for single homes. The City's Grandview Heights neighbourhood concept plans, which are public, show which blocks are planned for what. I check them for every client, because the empty lot next to a townhome complex is rarely going to stay empty.

The trade-offs

• Construction. Years more of it. Dust, trucks, closed lanes. Buyers who hold through it are usually fine. Buyers who need quiet now should look at Morgan Creek or Sunnyside.
• Strata. Most of Grandview is strata. New corporations have small contingency funds and sometimes builder deficiencies in progress. Read the minutes and the depreciation report, and ask whether the warranty claims have been resolved.
• Lot size. Detached homes here sit close together. If a yard matters, compare with an older home on a bigger lot west of the highway.
• Resale competition. While new phases are completing, a resale townhome competes with a developer's sales centre and incentives. Prices have held up well over time, but the quick flip does not work here.
• Schools at capacity. Growth has outpaced school construction at times. Confirm with the district that there is space in your child's grade at the catchment school.

How to buy well here

• Compare at least one five-year-old resale complex with any presale you are considering. The resale shows you how the builder's work has aged.
• Look for a townhome with a double side-by-side garage and a real yard, which resell best to the next family.
• Check the neighbourhood plan for what is coming across the street.
• Drive it at 3 p.m. on a school day. The traffic around the schools and the aquatic centre is the neighbourhood's real complaint.

Who it suits

Young families who want a new home, a community of people at the same stage, and the Peninsula's schools and beaches within a ten-minute drive, and who can live with a construction zone for a few more years. Downsizers who want a new townhome without stairs will find some options, though fewer than in White Rock. Investors should buy for the long hold, not the quick exit. Anyone who wants quiet, trees and a large lot today should look west of the highway.

The short version

• South Surrey's largest planned growth area, with most of the Peninsula's newer family homes.
• Shopping, a new aquatic centre, new schools and quick highway access.
• Trade-offs: ongoing construction, young strata corporations, compact lots, resale competition from new phases, school capacity.
• Buy with the neighbourhood plan and the strata documents open, and plan to hold.

If you are looking in Grandview Heights, tell me which complexes you are considering. I know which builders' earlier phases have aged well and which have had problems, and that is worth more than any brochure.