Onyx.

Overview

Onyx is a 260-home concrete development at 5868 Olive Avenue, Burnaby, BC, in Metrotown. Homes run 538 to 1,634 sq. ft. Blended pricing is around $1,177 per sq. ft. Estimated completion is 2028.

Location

Metrotown is the densest node in Burnaby and one of the busiest in the region. Metrotown Station on the Expo Line, Metropolis at Metrotown, Crystal Mall, the Bonsor recreation complex and Central Park are all within walking distance of each other. You are buying maximum convenience and accepting maximum density, including a lot of concurrent construction.

The homes

• 260 homes, concrete construction
• 538 – 1,634 sq. ft.
• Blended pricing around $1,177 per sq. ft.
• At that blended rate, roughly $633,000 for the smallest plan and $1,923,000 for the largest
• 15% deposit
• Estimated completion 2028
• Status: Now Selling

How the pricing compares

Measured against 48 other Burnaby concrete projects in my database, the median blended price is $1,250 per sq. ft. Onyx at $1,177 is within a few percent of it, effectively at market. That makes this a decision about the specific home rather than about the price level: orientation, floor, plan efficiency and outlook are what will differentiate your outcome here.

Direct comparables

Priced under it: Highline at $1,095 per sq. ft. Priced over it: Riviera at $1,205, Perla at $1,245, O2 O2 at $1,285 per sq. ft. Worth pricing those against this before you decide.

Narrowed to Metrotown specifically (7 comparable projects), the local median is $1,285, putting Onyx roughly 8% below its immediate neighbours.

What I would check before you sign

1. The length of the commitment. A completion this far out means you are agreeing today to a mortgage you will not qualify for until roughly the end of the decade, under lending rules that do not exist yet. You qualify at completion, not at signing.
2. How the 15% is staged, not just that it totals 15%.
3. Whether you can assign, and at what cost. Assume the CRA sees it: CSAIR reporting covers this now.
4. The unsold inventory specifically. On a selling project this tells you a lot.
5. The projected strata budget, which is usually optimistic at launch.

Before you commit at Onyx, get someone to read the disclosure statement with you. I do this for clients as a matter of course, along with pulling floor plans and real availability.

Find it on the map.

5868 Olive Avenue, Burnaby, BC