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Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

business.financialpost.com

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Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#161

Post by vonnik »

jessewmc wrote: post #152
lazzlazzlazz wrote: post #150

If having essentially no affordable housing rendered a city an economic ghost town, then much of the Bay area and Manhattan would be "ghost towns" - which, in turn, would lower housing prices radically. What might happen to Vancouver is probably similar to other major cities with housing crunches but an otherwise desirable economic climate: lower wage workers will be displaced further from the city and forced to comm…

The problem in Vancouver is the house prices are not driven by economic activity in the city itself. Bay area and Manhattan prices are a product of the local economies. Vancouver prices are a product of speculation and wealthy people who live/have property there but don't work there.

You should look more closely at Manhattan and SF. There is a ton of speculation, luxury highrises, and out-of-town wealthy buying second-, third- or fifth homes.

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#162

Post by patmcc »

odbol_ wrote: post #153
hardcandy wrote: post #149

Vancouver and cities like it became popular because of the critical mass of fun, interesting, creative, hard working young people who moved there and created communities. Once priced out, they will just go elsewhere. Other young people will follow and recreate the same communities with a lower price tag. Depending on local land use restrictions, some amount of gentrification then follows. In other words, this is a pr…

Does Vancouver have rent control? I thought rent control was one of the big causes of the SF housing crisis... or so people say. For me, at least, it's the only way I can afford to live in the city!

Yes, BC sets sensible maximum rates that rent can be increased per year (usually on the order of inflation, ~2%).

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#163

Post by acchow »

vonnik wrote: post #161
jessewmc wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem in Vancouver is the house prices are not driven by economic activity in the city itself. Bay area and Manhattan prices are a product of the local economies. Vancouver prices are a product of speculation and wealthy people who live/have property there but don't work there.

You should look more closely at Manhattan and SF. There is a ton of speculation, luxury highrises, and out-of-town wealthy buying second-, third- or fifth homes.

You really don't see any empty homes in SF...

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#164

Post by stanmancan »

jessewmc wrote: post #152
lazzlazzlazz wrote: post #150

If having essentially no affordable housing rendered a city an economic ghost town, then much of the Bay area and Manhattan would be "ghost towns" - which, in turn, would lower housing prices radically. What might happen to Vancouver is probably similar to other major cities with housing crunches but an otherwise desirable economic climate: lower wage workers will be displaced further from the city and forced to comm…

The problem in Vancouver is the house prices are not driven by economic activity in the city itself. Bay area and Manhattan prices are a product of the local economies. Vancouver prices are a product of speculation and wealthy people who live/have property there but don't work there.

Exactly this. A significant portion of the housing is being bought by foreign investors who don't even live here. Not only is it raising the pricing of the housing, but you don't get the economic benefit of said wealthy individuals living in the city.

I recall reading an article about a local coffee shop. A number of new buildings were built around it, all residential condo's. The condo's in the buildings were completely sold out, hundreds of units, yet it was a ghost town around there. The coffee shop, and I believe a local pub as well, ended up going out of business because despite all the units being purchased, nobody actually lived in them.

Similar experience, my office is in the heart of downtown, right on the water. A beautiful building went up beside us, all condo's for sale, starting at $1.5 million. They got bought up instantly. However, once the building opened, I looked out my window and into a building where 90% of the units remained completely empty (no curtains) for well over a year until I switched desks. Foreign investors buy up all this property and it just sits there...empty. Meanwhile everyone that lives and works here is being priced out.

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#165

Post by nibs »

patmcc wrote: post #162
odbol_ wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does Vancouver have rent control? I thought rent control was one of the big causes of the SF housing crisis... or so people say. For me, at least, it's the only way I can afford to live in the city!

Yes, BC sets sensible maximum rates that rent can be increased per year (usually on the order of inflation, ~2%).

Only if you rent month-to-month. And if a month-to-month tenant leaves, you increase rent by any amount you want. Source: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Daphne+Bramham+tier+sys...

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#167

Post by eigenvector »

hoelle wrote: post #92
merpnderp wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver salaries seem exceptionally low. I live in the middle of nowhere USA, and devs start out at from school over $60k USD, and I live on an acre in a 3 bed 3 bath, 6 minutes from downtown and 4 minutes from work. At $2350/month my house would have been paid off in 5 years.

I'm curious if dev salaries in Canada aren't competitive with the US due to more immigration. When I recently visited a large tech company in Canada, I was struck by how much of the team was from everywhere but US and Canada.

Chicken and egg. Partially because of low/competitive salaries in Canada, all of the Canadians are in the US on TN visas, leaving the Canadian tech industry staffed with non-citizens.

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#168

Post by [deleted] »

api_or_ipa wrote: post #55

As someone who just moved from Vancouver to the Bay Area, it's obvious the issue isn't housing. It's income. My apartment in trendy yaletown was $2350/month for a very nice 2 bed, 2 bath place within 10 mins of anything in downtown. Try finding something even remotely as nice around Silicon Valley. The issue we should be tackling is the low wages seen in the area. The same developer who could make $100k USD in the va…

[deleted]

Re: Without affordable housing, Vancouver risks becoming an economic ghost town

#169

Post by dnr »

Zach_the_Lizard wrote: post #147
munificent wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This punishes newcomers and rewards staying in the same property, just like California Prop 13. Have a kid and need a new place with more space? Prepare to pay punishing property taxes for that luxury. You grew up in the area and it's time to move out? Enjoy your tax! Moving from the countryside for better employment opportunities? Tax please! Can you explain why this would be a moving tax? Obvious, property taxes…

>Can you explain why this would be a moving tax? >Obvious, property taxes only apply to the fraction of the year that you own a place. Are you worried about the overlapping period where you have the house on the market but haven't sold it yet? The proposal was to create a property tax that phases out once the owner has lived there for X period of time. Naturally, every time you sell and move you then reset this clock…

I think the OP meant ten months per year, or in general, a fixed fraction of the period that the property tax is assessed over.
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