If you’ve considered relocating to White Rock, British Columbia, we are here to be your saviour. We’re going to cover all the things that I wish every home buyer knew before they move to White Rock, BC so they can absolutely love, love, LOVE the next home that they buy. Guaranteed.

Make sure you hang around to the end because I’m going to share with you which neighbourhood in White Rock I think will give the absolute best bang for your buck. So let’s get into it.

My name is Darin, the team leader with the Germyn Group, with Macdonald Realty, a REALTOR in Surrey, British Columbia.

If this is your first time reading our blogs, we are here to educate you on everything there is to know about living in Surrey or White Rock, British Columbia. If you’re looking to make a move in the next 9 days, 90 days or 9 months, shoot us a text, give us a call, or book an in-person zoom meeting with us so we can learn a little bit more about your situation and let you know what we can do to help you. This way, we can make sure your move to Surrey or White Rock is a smooth one.

Thanks for the introduction, where were we?

Okay, I’m assuming that anybody reading this is probably from out of town, whether that’s somewhere in the lower mainland, other parts of Canada, or even, other parts of the world.

Hello, my international friends =)

Let’s talk about White Rock a little bit. So White Rock is actually a relatively small community. It used to be part of Surrey, not the one in England, but the one in British Columbia. It’s a really big municipality in the lower mainland, but that all stopped as of 1957 because the city of White Rock really started to look like the downtown city of Surrey. Not in a bad way, it was just kind of developing that way.

So what happened?

Well the residents of White Rock said no more. They claimed “We want to leave the city of Surrey, and become our own city,” which they did. In terms of city size, it’s just a little baby city. It’s about 5 square kilometers, just a bit bigger than that, but it does have, as of 2021, approximately 22,000 residents. And of course as of the day of writing this blog post, it’s certainly more than that.

Tell me more about White Rock, BC…

White Rock is a little Beachside community and it’s known for many things….

It’s known for “the White Rock,” in which it gets its name from. Its literally a big white rock sitting on the beach with a really cool story behind how the rock got there. Whether it’s true or not, who knows, but it’s a really cool story, so you want to check that out anyways, but it’s known for the White Rock.

It’s known for having Canada’s Longest Pier. This is a pier where locals love to walk down and take a stroll in the wintertime, summertime, anytime like that, and it’s usually dressed up beautifully at night as well. There’s always lots of people fishing off there. Sometimes you’ll see people jumping into the water, which I don’t think you’re supposed to do anymore, but it is certainly one of the famous staples of White Rock.

It’s also known for having the steepest road in the lower mainland, which is Oxford Street, which is aggressively steep, so steep in fact that oftentimes in icy winter conditions it gets shut down by the city for use.

Of course I would have to tell you about famous fish and chips, names like Moby Dick, Coney Island and plenty more, along the beach as well. So if you’re looking for really good fish and chips, you want to check that out as well.

Aside from the attractions above, you’re really here looking to buy a home in White Rock, so you need to know a little bit about the community and you need to know what’s going on with real estate.

White Rock Communities

As a little bit of a general market overview, white Rock is an interesting community because originally anyways, it was a really old community, kind of a small beach house style beachside community. There is tons of different styles of homes for all sorts of varying budgets.

There’s many senior-orientated condominium buildings in the area. This is where they have age restrictions on the inhabitants of the building, usually about 55+ or older, and those are sprinkled all up on the upper White Rock area. They are usually quite close at walking distance to the shopping and the mall and the groceries and all that sort of stuff.

White Rock doesn’t have many large townhome developments, however, they do have little niche kind of boutique townhome developments where you might see smaller complexes like 2-4, to bigger townhome complexes like 12-16 units scattered throughout the city. So there’s not any really big gated communities like you might see in other areas of the city of Surrey, but there is townhomes in White Rock as well.

Then you start getting into the different categories of homes and there’s really something for everyone. You’ve got your entry level homes, these tend to be smaller, kind of rectangle style and very “beachy” feeling. They are scattered around different areas, but you tend to find them in areas that haven’t seen a lot of development.

Now, White Rock obviously is an Oceanside community, which means with Oceanside comes having a view. You tend to see some of these more premier homes scattered throughout certain areas as well, and usually they do come with pretty substantial or pretty nice views.

And then we get into our incredible HGTV-style mansions, just very beautiful homes. These are homes that you would expect to see on the Real Housewives of White Rock, which isn’t really a show that exists, but they’re absolutely incredible. And what’s really neat about them is they’re usually done in styles that are just ultra modern. They are just incredibly attractive.

They’ve got features in the homes that you may have never even heard of or had the opportunity to experience because they’re so new and so kind of forward thinking. So you’ve got these mega mansions and these really kind of incredible properties and you’ve also got the waterfront properties as well.

Now there’s not really a huge waterfront area in White Rock, and one of the reasons for that is because the main drag, which is called Marine Drive, actually runs right along the beach. So there is a small portion of more cliffside type waterfront homes that are pretty awesome and pretty beautiful, but for the most part, the oceanfront homes aren’t really a big thing in White Rock. It’s more about having the view.

What about prices in White Rock, BC?

So whether it is an apartment or a town home or a town home with a rooftop deck or a detached home, different size and age and whatever that is, prices can vary incredibly wildly if you’ve got an ocean view, an ocean view just completely changes the game in terms of price and people will pay a premium to get homes with these sorts of views.

People will also pay a premium depending on how easily accessible the beach is from the property. And believe it or not, you’ll also pay a premium for a home depending on whether it is on the north side or the south side of an east-west running road. This is for a reason that you probably wouldn’t have guessed, but it’s because of power lines.

The property’s on the north side of the east west running streets have typically power lines in front of them, which impedes the view. So people tend to prefer the homes on the south side of these roads to get more of an unobstructed view of the beautiful Semiahmoo Bay.

What do the amenities look like in White Rock, BC?

The key attraction that a lot of the development in White Rock revolves around, is really the Semiahmoo Shopping Center area. So you’ve got just lots of shopping options, there’s lots of food options, restaurant options, all that sort of thing, but you’ve also got the major grocery store in White Rock here as well, which is Save-On-Foods and there’s Nature’s Fair on the other side of the street, which is quite nice.

So when I was talking about some of the senior orientated buildings, you tend to get a lot of those kind of gravitating near this Semiahmoo Shopping Center area. Now that area is all going to be redeveloped in the near future. There’s a huge, huge plan that’s coming down the pipe for that area.

We actually did a video on that, so if you’re interested, click the picture above. You can kind of check that out, but that’s where you tend to find a lot of them kind of in this area right here for those senior occupied apartments.

When we’re talking about more modest homes, the catchment of Earl Marriott or Semiahmoo Secondary, you will find a lot of them here where it is kind of more flat, your more traditional type homes as well as around Centennial Park as well. There tend to be a lot of older homes in this area as well.

Now before I let you go from this post, there’s a few considerations that I want you to take before you make a decision on whether you think it’s a great idea to move to White Rock or not.

Here’s number one…

if you have kids. White Rock is an incredibly hilly area and it’s not overly well-served by schools. So there is two elementary schools in the neighborhood.

There is Peach Arch Elementary and there’s White Rock Elementary. Those are kind of in Upper White Rock in more of the flatter area. So if you’re ending up in some of the more of those premier areas where they tend to be quite hilly, it’s pretty difficult for those little legs to walk up those hills. So just be prepared to jump those kids in the car if you’ve got to run them to school 5 days a week.

Number two is…

Now if you’ve got kids that are a little bit older and maybe they’re going to the high schools, the interesting thing about White Rock, even though it’s so small, White Rock is actually served by three different high schools depending on where you are in the city.

None of the high schools are actually located in White Rock. They’re all actually at least on the Surrey side of 16th Avenue or further, so they’re not easily accessible from a lot of the areas of White Rock. So you’re usually going to be running anybody in high school over to the schools by car as well.

Number three is…

I want you to know is it’s incredibly busy in the summertime in White Rock, so it’s amazing to live in a Beachside community. I mean, who wouldn’t want to have that, but it’s a tourist destination that is sought after from everyone in the lower mainland and lots of people from out of town come to visit it as well. So if you’re going to relocate here, just be prepared.

Number four is…

Well, real estate in White Rock is pretty expensive compared to its counterparts in, let’s say South Surrey or maybe Cloverdale or other areas, just a short drive away from White Rock. There’s a little bit of a prestige to living in the neighborhood.

Since a lot of the properties may have views with them, you tend to spend a little bit more money on them and the properties tend to be built with a little bit of flare because hey, it’s White Rock. It’s a pretty prestigious community, so be prepared when you’re coming here that houses are probably going to be a little more expensive than maybe some that you’ve been looking at online that don’t actually fall into the actual White Rock boundary.

Last but not least…

What I really want you to take away is, if you are buying in the area, and you’re buying something with a view, you need to be very aware of the zoning and the restrictions in the area, especially for anything kind of facing south or wherever your view is kind of located. You may LOSE your view.

This has happened to many, many people over the years, including people who bought in the original Miramar Towers, these two incredible beautiful concrete towers that went up in Upper White Rock where many people bought into them only to learn about 6 years later that there was two other towers going up directly in front of them, almost essentially eliminating their ocean views.

This might be a good time to mention as well, we did a video on our Top five reasons why you might consider not moving to White Rock as well, just to give you a more balanced opinion on what might be good for you and your family’s future if you have considered relocating here.

Conclusion

you now know a little bit more about the community in White Rock and what it is like to live here and what you could expect to find when you move here.

If you’re a local watching this video, I would love you to comment below and let me know if there’s anything I missed letting people know about the great things about White Rock in this post.

If you’re someone coming from out of town, let us know in the comments about why you’re coming from out of town.

What if I have any questions about moving to White Rock, BC?

Selecting an excellent real estate professional is key to a successful home purchase. The Germyn Group, with our deep understanding of White Rock and its real estate dynamics, is committed to guiding you every step of the way.

We invite you to book a consultation with us. During our meeting, we’ll discuss your needs, preferences, and any questions you might have about the Surrey real estate market.

As you embark on this exciting journey, remember that the right home in Surrey is more than just a property; it’s a foundation for your future. With the Germyn Group by your side, let’s make your dream of homeownership in Surrey a beautiful reality.