"Most expensive basement suite in the world": Couple pays $3,500 in West Vancouver
A Metro Vancouver artist never expected she’d have to pay $3,500 per month for a suite underneath a family home, but that’s where she settled after an eight-month-long search for rental housing.
Kayla Kleine and her husband used to live in a basement suite in White Rock for $1,600 a month but decided to move to West Vancouver to be closer to her husband’s work. They were tired of his long days with a three-hour roundtrip commute.
Kleine knew rental prices had shot up post-pandemic, and the reality sunk in when they started looking for housing in fall 2023. They initially wanted a space for $3,000 or less with enough room for Kleine to do her art from home — since renting a separate studio space could run them $1,500 per month extra or more.
The couple quickly learned they couldn’t find everything they wanted with their initial budget and decided to spring for their current three-bedroom suite in West Vancouver.
Kleine gave a tour of the space on TikTok, showing how they converted the two smaller bedrooms into a living room and a dining room while turning the living area into an art studio.
“I think I might live in the most expensive basement suite in the world,” she began the video.
@kaylakleine PLUS UTILITIES #rental #vancouverrealestate #housingmarket #realestate #fyp #fy ā¬ original sound – Kayla Kleine
In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized, Kleine said the house is built on a hill, and she isn’t sure whether the space should be called a basement suite or a garden suite. The kitchen is below grade, but rooms toward the backyard are at ground level.
She’s grateful to have found the pet-friendly space and that the landlord agreed to reduce the monthly price from $3,700 to $3,500. Still, she thinks it’s an absurd amount to live below someone’s family home.
“Like, three months goes by, and that’s $10,000,” she told Daily Hive Urbanized. “We make a decent income, but it’s impossible to save. There’s just no winning.”
Some commenters on her TikTok house tour suggested the couple save to buy a home, but Kleine said that would be even less affordable.
When looking to buy, they couldn’t find any similar spaces in West Vancouver for less than $1.5 million. All homes above $1 million in Canada require a 20% downpayment — about $300,000 in cash. Even if they had the down payment available, their monthly mortgage payments would be double their current monthly rent.
“It’s just kind of made me realize you have to be making a ton of money to be living in Vancouver,” she said. “The dream of buying a house in your twenties or even buying a house before kids… isn’t really realistic for our generation out here.”
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