17 Replies to “Vancouver Tops List of Most Unaffordable Cities in North America”

  2. No, that’s not related. What’s ‘related’ ie the cause is zoning and other land use restrictions. Just let people build. Also, cheap money is probably making it worse.

  3. And like ripples, it spreads across the waters.
    I’ve been on Van. Island for twenty five years and real estate has been pretty stable until recently. Suddenly, homes that were $550K have jumped to $700K. Two years ago we looked at a new house (downsizing) in Parksville, twenty minutes outside of Nanaimo, . At that time it was $549K. Today, that same house – now ‘used’ – would be $729K – $749K.
    All the baby boomers from Vancouver have cashed out, taken the ferry to the Island and purchased far superior homes to those they previously had, while stashing hundreds of thousands of ‘difference dollars’ in their bank accounts.
    Aging Islanders, who due to the wonderful lifestyle are disinclined to go elsewhere, are basically ‘swapping’ from larger family homes to much more expensive (due to competition from the mainland) smaller homes or townhouses.
    Yeah, I know it’s a first world problem, but the crazy market in Vancouver affects everyone in its orbit.

  4. Note this is median price/median income. That explains why wpg isn’t much lower than yyc.
    And I know that what you get for your money in Nashville is vastly more than in yyc.

  5. Huh!? We are in agreement. Imagine that …
    Although it is the LEFTISTS who have conspired to PREVENT building by putting up multiple barriers to all construction. Here in the SF Bay Area my typical new home requires a 1-1/4″ dual-service water meter (domestic, and State-mandated FIRE sprinklers) PLUS … now requires a separate Landscape meter (thanks to the leftist State legislature who mandated “smart” water meters that can SHUT-DOWN your water during the “never-ending” drought). . When all is said and done … it is at least $ 75,000.00 in FEES alone … for a water meter … before a spade is ever put in the ground. The NIMBY’s who fight every project with leftist eco-anti-devepment org.’s support, appeal every Planning Agency decision and approval. They even file suit to STOP development. And where do they do this all? In flyover country … nah, that’s not the leftists live. They only do it in THEIR backyards to prevent the illegal riff-raff from dwelling after dark, and after the lawns have been mown. Blame all your leftist brethren for thwarting every effort toward providing affordable housing. You only have yourself to blame.

  6. “Just let people build”
    Have you ever been to Vancouver? Look at a map. The city meanders along the coastline. Why? Mountains keeping them from building inland, that’s why.
    Some A-hole last year asked why Seattle didn’t build a subway. Duh! It’s for the same reason *New Orleans doesn’t have a subway.
    *did you know that all New Orlean’s graveyards and graves are above ground for the same reason they don’t have a subway?

  7. Kenji said: “Blame all your leftist brethren for thwarting every effort toward providing affordable housing.”
    News yesterday said that building permits on the lower mainland take 10 mths. In Vancouver, it’s 21 months. Constricted supply, big demand = high prices.

  8. Yes indeed, same issue in Victoria. If you’re use already in the housing market, it’s clear sailing, even if the bubble bursts at some point.
    Similar to your story, our modest 20 year old 2700 sq ft home, has risen from around 650k 2 years ago to about 900k or so. The side effect, is that rents for suites and apartments are also reaching a breaking point, 900 is the minimum for a 1 bdrm. These inflated markets are toughest on the young. We expected our kids to leave soon after finishin* school, but that plan is delayed.
    And yes it’s the same issue here, restrictive gvernmen5 development policies contribute to HIGH PRICES. Lots of NIMBYISM here

  9. Ya wanna know what’s REALLY sad ? We recently took out a $ 500K refinanced mortgage on our home to do some expansion/repairs at a … 3.25% interest rate … and our mortgage payment is FAR less than my son pays for RENT in San Mateo, CA for his 2-Bed. duplex Apt. and less than my daughter pays for her 2-bed duplex Apt. in Dana Point, CA … the NIMBY’s are single-handedly CRUSHING the American Dream. Something’s gotta give. And I believe that the current crop of youngsters are going to EAT their IDIOT leftist parents for skrewing their futures

  10. Vancouver is bounded by mountains on one side, ocean on another, and agricultural land reserve (central planning dictating that prime farmland must stay farmland forever and ever so don’t even think about building on it unless you’re a friend of the mayor/minister in which case you can get an exemption) on the other sides. Combine that with municipal building codes and regulations that control the sizes of lots and buildings, and what can be built where, and you’ve got an artificially created shortage.

  11. Instead of worrying about ALR farm land why not increase the density of building in West Van? Single detached housing seems anachronistic for a world class city.

  12. You just described the situations here too. Single Family homes renting for 2500 to 3000 a month, our mortgage is half that. We’ve talked about selling down, but it means moving further out into an older smaller home. The wife commutes, and there’s quality of life and our good neighbourhood location to consider.
    Yes, lots of ALR restrictions here, as well as governments that charge up to 100k in DCCs per lot. Government has created these high cost conditions.
    Meanwhile the NDP Commies claim to want to “fix the housing crisis” but the6 don’t have a clue, they are part of the problem. Our young will either have to live it out, or move somewhere cheaper to buy. Unfortunately, our governments are doing all they can to destroy resource industries, which negatively affects small resource based towns, and more people move to the bigger cities, forcing prices up. There is no magic solution, other than a quick rise in interest rates. No government wants to wear that hat, forcing people out of their homes cuz they cant afford it anymore. It might be the medicine, but it’s a very bitter pill.

  13. THAT is the problem isn’t it ? The leftist buzzword (that I agree with) is … “infill” housing. “Infill” development. The lefties LOVE to toss that about when discussing suburban sprawl. And I (mostly) agree, as I don’t believe it is wise policy to push development onto farmland (esp. here in CA – the breadbasket,er salad bowl, of the world). Buildings can go anywhere … no so much for farmland. Increasing density of existing urbanized land is the way to go. Even Suburbia can tolerate well-planned increased density without unreasonably undermining quality of life. But density restrictions, height limits, and a plethora of other restrictions conspire to choke-off housing supply (and keep forcing it onto farmland in the hinterlands). These draconian policies are putting the brakes on the free-market, which is forced to the sidelines with its engine revving.
    But in reality “infill” development is just another empty bumper-sticker slogan of the Left, and in the hierarchy of leftist causes NIMBY trumps INFILL. The average leftist demands NO CHANGES when it comes to their own neighborhoods. They seem to believe that after THEY move-in, their neighborhood should be put on the National Historic Register, restricting all future development. Not very progressive of the progressives now is it ?

  14. I’m surprised Toronto is way down at #13. I just checked real estate listings in our old neighbourhood and they are completely insane. A small (very small) 3 bedroom bungalow in North York asking $1.5 million appears typical. Had we sold within the past year instead of four years ago, we would have well in excess of $500,000 in the bank. This won’t end well.

  15. The Agriculture Land Reserve (ALR) is an earlier version of green theology. The NDP brought it in during their first term in the early seventies. All land use has an associated economic rent determined by the value of it use. Urbanization is usually always higher use (higher economic rents) until agricultural land becomes rare enough for the cost of food including imports to reverse that trend. In the Lower Mainland, it has become economical to drill and blast housing developments out of solid rock mountain sides (above West Van on your way to the Ferry, look to your right) given the artificial costs from the ALR and subsequent demand on developable land. This may seem odd to stubble-jumpers from Saskabush, but Lotuslanders think that blueberry farms on otherwise multi-million dollar properties are “sacred”.

  17. in NB you can get a 16 by 74 manufactured home on a site for 60k. with taxes, site fee and maintenance about 400 bucks a month to live in one. most places in Canada refuse to allow you to buy a lot and put one on a foundation.

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