Clayton State of the Market Report 2019

A lot has changed in West & North Clayton since our last report a year ago, unfortunately not all of it is good news. A softening in the residential real estate market has land values down in many areas, and the new municipal government has development planning priorities shifting away from new neighbourhood plans – like North Clayton – and toward transit-oriented neighbourhoods. With that said, general market sentiment is one of cautious optimism and demand for development land in Clayton that is priced correctly has returned as spring market activity is rebuilding confidence among land purchasers. Don’t miss our detailed planning and servicing updates on both West Clayton and North Clayton at the bottom of this article.

As we have done in the past, we have mapped and analyzed current development applications for trends and to find regions with a high concentration of active applications (outlined in green on the below map). The bulk of the development applications are in West Clayton south of 74 Avenue as this land will be one of the next areas to be serviced and therefore be developable first. In this area, there are over 800 townhouse units under application and 470 units with conditional approval – which likely means once services (sanitary, water and stormwater drainage) are sorted for these areas, there will be a flood of new construction.

The red and yellow highlighted regions represent relatively high concentrations of residential development land sales over the past 12 months. Sales activity is picking up again with the spring market but total land sales over the past 12 months were about half of the $125M in land sales we experienced in the extraordinarily active 12 months leading up to last year’s report.

CURRENT STATE OF WEST & NORTH CLAYTON

Below are updates from City Staff on the current state of development in the emerging neighbourhoods of Clayton.

WEST CLAYTON

• Planning staff will be reviewing the West Clayton plan taking into account the proposed SkyTrain route along Fraser Highway, the southwest border of the plan. It is too early to tell what this will mean, if anything, for land use designations and property values.
• The City is still negotiating with the land owners for the outstanding Statutory Right of Ways (SROW), in the southwest corner of the plan, required for sanitary servicing. Development cannot proceed until these are secured.
• Construction that had begun on the stormwater detention pond (that will eventually service land south of 74 Avenue) has been postponed until next summer. This pond is a prerequisite to development and its delay could further impact development timelines in the area.
• A developer or group of developers has yet to commit funding to front-end the cost of the sanitary servicing, likely as a result of the outstanding SROWs holding things up.

NORTH CLAYTON

• Background investigation for the neighbourhood planning process had been initiated last summer but appears to be on pause while the new Mayor and council focus on SkyTrain and transit-oriented development projects instead.
• City staff are unclear on the timeline of the new neighbourhood plan and await direction from Council to continue the work.
• The lack of clarity on the plan has not appeared to dampen demand for land in the area and investors remain confident in the North Clayton real estate market over a 5-10 year timeline.

If you have any questions, or if there is any further information that would be helpful to you, don’t hesitate to give us a call.

In creating this report we consult City of Surrey planning staff, survey multiple land transaction reporting systems and analyze municipal development data to bring you the most relevant information. Sources: Commercial Edge, MLS, City of Surrey.

Curious about what’s going on in other neighbourhoods?

Read our 2019 report on residential development in South Surrey here.

Read our 2019 report on residential development in Willoughby here.