The Heights Real Estate & Homes For Sale
New Westminster is a community located at the geographical centre of Metro Vancouver known for the outstanding quality and innovation of its recreational programs, its affordable heritage homes and its authentic sense of community. The Heights, which is the name for the combined neighbourhoods of Massey Heights and Victory Heights, contains many war-time home styles where the 3,640 (2006) residents display their pride of ownership with beautiful landscaping and careful preservation of their historical homes. Ever since the neighbourhood was built for soldiers returning from World War II, the area’s remained a dreamy suburban oasis.
New West’s Massey Victory Heights area rests at the top of the city’s hillside and overlooks both the mountains and the river. The neighbourhood is between Tenth and Eighth and between East Columbia Street and McBride Boulevard, with Williams Street being the dividing line between Massey and Victory Heights.
The Heights Homes For Sale
- All Listings
- Over $1,000,000
The Heights has more children and fewer young adults aged 25-34 than the rest of the city on average. More people stay in the same home for a longer period of time than in New West at large. Massey Victory Heights also has a significantly larger median household income than the rest of the city at $71,107 (2006).
New West and Massey Victory Heights share Vancouver’s mild temperate rainforest climate. The city gets about 111cm of rainfall annually and temperatures vary from 6°C to about 22°C.
Employment Opportunities
The nearby Royal Columbian Hospital is the largest employer in the city, providing 3500 jobs. TransLink and Douglas College also provide around 1000 jobs each.
There are 3% more residents employed in management than in the rest of the city on average. The neighbourhood has an unemployment rate of 2.7%, which is significantly lower than the city’s average of 5.6%.
Shopping
There are many amenities within walking distance of the neighbourhood, such as Choices Grocery on nearby 10th Avenue and Safeway at the bottom of the hill.
The nearby commercial drags, 10th Avenue and Columbia Street, provide mom-and-pop local businesses including Cap’s Bicycles, which has been a New West institution for more than 80 years. Much like the rest of the city, the section of Columbia Street nearest The Heights been going through a period of revitalization with the addition of interesting shops like Banana Lab midcentury antique shop and Barley’s Homebrewing Supplies.
Columbia Street also connects the neighbourhood to Burnaby’s Lougheed Mall and Cariboo Centre.
Dining
Columbia Street, which outlines the neighbourhood's eastern border, provides a cluster of close-at-hand restaurants ranging from Chinese to sushi to pizza. Hang out at the local Starbucks or grab a pint at the Fireside Pub, all within walking distance of the neighbourhood.
The city’s been focusing on growing its culinary offerings to match its civic revitalizations, including the lauded Wild Rice and Re-Up BBQ restaurants on the “hungry floor” of the Quayside area’s new River Market.
Transportation and Ease of Access
By Car or SkyTrain rapid transit link it takes less than 30 minutes to get from New Westminster to downtown Vancouver. The Sapperton rapid transit station (one of New West’s five SkyTrain stations) is about a twenty minute walk from the Massey Heights Neighbourhood.
All of the neighbourhood’s borders are busy thoroughfares with heavy traffic that lead to other parts of the city and highways beyond, but the neighbourhood is designed so well that from the quiet of its local streets you’d never know it.
Schools
New West’s school district offers its residents nine elementary schools, two middle schools, and one secondary school. French Immersion is offered at both middle schools, the high school, and two of the elementaries.
New Westminster Secondary School is one of BC’s largest and offers quality arts, sports and academics programmes such as the International Baccalaureate Program.
Nearby post-secondary institutions include The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Simon Fraser University in neighbouring Burnaby and New West’s own Douglas College.
The Arts
The city has many live performance venues such as the Massey Theatre which is very close to The Heights and two nearby theatres within Queen’s Park in the centre of town.
The Massey houses The Royal City Musical Theatre as well as a variety of performances from around the provence.
The city takes special care to nurture its local arts scene by providing attractive market venues, commercial centres that welcome art galleries and many annual festivals so the community has many opportunities to come together around the arts.
Recreation and Sports
Watershed Park is one of Massey Victory Heights’ greatest outdoor spaces. Perched on the hill, it offers a stunning view of Mt. Baker as well as tennis courts, a large open area for field sports and a ball hockey rink. Local neighbourhood children love to safely ride their bikes around the park.
The neighbourhood association hosts multiple events for residents each year, including the neighbourhood garage sale and a fun family block party.
Victory Heights Park is full of large, beautiful trees casting their shade on a grass play area near a playground and basketball hoop.
The Heights’ Westburnco Sports Courts and Park is built right on top of the Westburnco Water Reservoir. The park features tennis courts, practice walls, a ball hockey enclosure and basketball courts. It also has an off-leash dog park and benches for enjoying the scenery.
The Outdoors
The city’s invested well in its park spaces, so green outdoor areas abound. The neighbourhood itself is full of lovely tree-lined streets.
Queen’s Park, right down the road from The Heights, is the city’s pride and joy and has often been called one of the best parks in the lower mainland. It features many cultural and athletic activities as well as rolling green fields, gardens and trails.
Investing in The Heights
The astonishing value of New West’s housing market is still considered a bit of a secret, but it won’t stay that way much longer. Oftentimes the same house in bordering Burnaby would easily sell for $200,000 more. The market for detached homes in New West is very strong, partially in response to a high demand and partly due to the area’s current period of promising growth.
The idyllic mid-century homes on the quiet tree-lined streets that still contain some of the area’s original street lamps make The Heights one of the most popular real estate markets in the city. Its relative affordability coupled with its high median household income increases its desirability even more. Massey Victory Heights certainly lends a hand to the city’s achievement as being one of the top ten cities in British Columbia with the fastest growth rate between 2006 and 2011.
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