Vancouver housing's latest trend: Fully furnished homes

A B.C developer is catering to buyers who want it all — literally — by building new homes which include everything needed to live in it, right down to the food in the fridge.

British Pacific Properties has been building homes in West Vancouver since 1931. Senior vice-president Mike Courtenay says they're after a certain kind of client.

"Mostly our main clientele is from mainland China and they arrive on a Tuesday and leave on a Friday and in that time we go through from architecture to interior completely and then they go away and come back six months later."

In the West Vancouver neighbourhood where the company is building, homes start around $3 million. Offering all the extras can add another million to the price tag.

British Pacific Properties homes can include:  

• Furniture
• Potted plants
• Artwork
• Piano
• Cutlery
• Linens
• Wine bar

"Definitely when they get here they don't have the time or the energy to do those things. It's more convenient for them to have it done for them. It's not that they are lazy. They just have priorities beyond buying furniture and knick-knacks." 

Courtenay describes clients as "very busy international travellers," who have houses in other parts of the world, which need someone else to look after.

Two of the fully-furnished homes in the current 20 unit project that British Pacific Properties is working on have sold. The buyers are people who typically only live in them a few weeks of the year.

In fact, British Pacific Properties is now working on providing their clients with an added convenience: a concierge service for those who are rarely home.

"We're trying to develop a concierge service when we can actually, once a house is finished and completed, we can take over the maintenance," said Courtenay.