Brookswood State of the Market Report 2019

State of the Market

You may recall, in last year’s report, we explained how the requirement from the Township for neighbourhood plans to be created and approved prior to area development had caused a shift in sentiment about Brookswood among buyers of development land. The past 12 months has largely been a continuation of this trend as buyers look to more readily developable neighbourhoods for their next purchase. This, combined with a general downturn in the residential real estate market, has resulted in an enormous decline in sales activity and a decrease in selling prices of development land in many areas of Brookswood. Over the past 12 months approximately $70M in land sales occurred; this is less than half the $162.4M in sales in the same 12 month period leading up to last year’s report.

Neighbourhood plans have recently been kicked off for Booth, Fernridge and Rinn which, as the planning process progresses, will provide more certainty regarding development timelines and instill more confidence in Brookswood’s development land market. See below for an update on the recent progress in the creation of the new neighbourhood plans.

Like last year, we have analyzed the current development applications in Brookswood and mapped out (in green on the below map) the regions with the highest concentrations of development applications. These areas will experience the most development activity in the next 12-18 months. The red highlighted region on the map represents the area with the highest concentration of residential development land sales over the past 12 months. As development typically follows behind high concentrations of transactions, this provides insight into where we can expect to see the next wave of development applications.

Neighbourhood Updates

Neighbourhood planning has commenced for the three neighbourhoods highlighted in green on the map below: Booth, Fernridge and Rinn. The first public open house was held June 18th to collect public input on the community’s values and important assets within each neighbourhood.

Township of Langley planning staff will be moving into phase 2 of the process shortly, working to develop policy ideas and options for the various plans. It’s anticipated that the neighbourhood plans could be ready for Council consideration in the second half of 2020.

Below is an update on the current status of these neighbourhoods. You can find out more about the neighbourhood planning process and get a copy of the display boards from the June 18th open house at www.tol.ca/bfnp.

Booth

Booth will continue to be the centre of the short-term development as it holds the majority of the grandfathered applications that are permitted to proceed because they were submitted ahead of the adoption of the new Brookswood-Fernridge Community Plan. Specifically, the single family subdivisions on both sides of 32 Avenue around 197 Street should see development activity shortly as the applications received final approval at the end of April.

Fernridge

The northeastern portion of Fernridge may see some development ahead of the adoption of the neighbourhood plan, but aside from one single family subdivision application, most of the neighbourhood is required to wait until the Fernridge plan is adopted to move forward with any development projects.

Rinn

Rinn covers the eastern portion of the undeveloped area of Brookswood and contains one large single family subdivision on 208 Street that is permitted to proceed ahead of the new neighbourhood plan. As servicing properties with water/sewer etc. is a challenge for properties in Rinn, due to the distance from existing services at 200 Street, land sales have been particularly quiet here over the past 12 months.

Glenwood

Not highlighted in green on the map is the neighbourhood of Glenwood which is awaiting a neighbourhood plan. However, as the neighbourhood plan is not in development like the other 3, the timeline to future redevelopment is currently unknown.

Sources

In creating this report we consult planning and engineering staff at the Township of Langley, survey multiple land transaction reporting systems (Commercial Edge, MLS) and analyze municipal development data to bring you the most relevant information.

If you have any questions, or if there is any further information that would be particularly helpful to you, don’t hesitate to contact Mike Harrison.