A West Side character house, built in 1927, was the most expensive Vancouver home to be listed for sale the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, a look at MLS data reveals.

It may be on a truly spectacular 8,400-square-foot lot with mountain views fronting on to Trimble Park and West Point Grey Academy, but the house itself needs a lot of work. So much so, the listing description suggests the buyer should “build your dream house” — despite the pre-1940s date of the home meaning that a demolition permit from the city comes with stringent requirements.

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Why buy an outdated house for nearly $15m? This incredible Point Grey lot, that’s why. - Listing agents: Linda Qin, Olivia Li

Based on this suggestion, the $14,980,000 price tag seems based on land value alone. Indeed, this is arguably one of the city’s most desirable spots, and a brand-new home on the property — or, the original house completely renovated from the studs up — could likely fetch many millions more than that list price, so a savvy developer might make even these figures work.

A 53rd-floor unit, at the under-construction Vancouver house, was just listed for $5.28 million. - Listing agent: Paul Zhang, Nu Stream Realty

The priciest attached home to go on sale in the same week was yet another contract assignment at the under-construction Vancouver House in downtown Vancouver — one of many flips in the luxury tower as controversial speculators cash in their investments. The 53rd-floor unit is more than 2,000 square feet and has 270-degree views of the mountains, city and ocean. It was listed for $5.28 million on December 1.

These were two of the 186 homes to be listed for sale within Vancouver’s city limits the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 – 10 fewer than the previous week. Of those, 99 were condos, 20 townhomes and similar attached houses, and 67 detached houses.

Median listing prices held steady for in both the detached and townhouse categories, but rose by almost $20k for condos, compared with the previous week.

Median sale prices, on the other hand, saw the inverse trend. The median price of the 24 detached sales that week, and the median price of the 17 townhome transactions, both increased compared with the week before, while the median condo sale price dropped slightly. Sales totals were down slightly in all three home types as the market continues to gradually soften for the season – although real estate sales for the month across the region were unusually strong for November.

The highest-priced Vancouver home sale that week was an assignment flip of a large sub-penthouse in an as-yet-unbuilt development in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The purchase contract for this luxury home went for $4.584 million, exactly its list price, after 60 days on market.

The priciest townhome sale beat out all detached-home transactions that week. This was the purchase of a stunning three-storey townhome in Coal Harbour, right on the seawall with harbour and mountain views. It took 23 days to go for$4.1 million, $280K under list price.

The most expensive single-family sale the same week was a relatively modest transaction. A three-bedroom, post-1940s “demo property” on a great lot in the South Granville area fetched $3.95 million, although this was $249K under asking and took 243 days to sell.