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Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
51–60 of 89 posts
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nihilism is never a solution.
That's not nihilism, but a correct free market response to over-investment in a particular asset type. The fact that this didn't happen is due to regulation and other market distortions.
I'm not sure why I should give the "correct free market response" any airtime at all, given that 1) it would appear to require making one of the top 5 Canadian cities into "scorched earth", meaning a wasteland of empty housing in order to drive out investment money so that... why? and 2) any one of a hundred or more demonstrable failures of free markets that have fueled the drive for regulation more than anything else over the same period.
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're absolutely correct. Vancouver is unlike SF in that it has no issues building new residential buildings. At the moment housing starts in Vancouver are at all time highs, unprecedented for decades, and yet vacancy remains sub zero and housing is very unaffordable. This suggests that even these unprecedented levels of supply creation are unable to meet demand, and there are more issues at play than a lack of supp…
We also have unprecedented immigration with no end in sight in fact, we are rapidly increasing it. As well, we are allowing more and more temporary foreign residents (students, TFWs, illegals, etc). We need drastically more supply.
The level of supply being made in Vancouver is also unprecedented. I can seriously not overstate this enough. Vancouver is not SF. It builds.
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nihilism is never a solution.
That's not nihilism, but a correct free market response to over-investment in a particular asset type. The fact that this didn't happen is due to regulation and other market distortions.
This is a reply to the sibling comment rather than the parent (which I largely agree with). Politically incorrect rhetoric aside, it's clear than Vancouver's housing shortage can be easily addressed by free market mechanics.
Increased supply, even if not available on the market means that the owner or occupant will not outbid a local on a different housing unit. Multiple additional housing units will over time enter the market and reduce competition and rent increases. A more friendly zoning situation will also spur developers to bring in more housing capacity. This will stabilize or reduce rents, as has been empirically demonstrated in the past year by Seattle.
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not nihilism, but a correct free market response to over-investment in a particular asset type. The fact that this didn't happen is due to regulation and other market distortions.
This is a reply to the sibling comment rather than the parent (which I largely agree with). Politically incorrect rhetoric aside, it's clear than Vancouver's housing shortage can be easily addressed by free market mechanics. Increased supply, even if not available on the market means that the owner or occupant will not outbid a local on a different housing unit. Multiple additional housing units will over time enter…
For the last 20 years Vancouver has had a building boom in which housing starts and completions have been at record highs. We're adding housing stock as fast as we can and faster than almost any municipality in North America. After 20 years, we're at record high prices, available rental properties are at record lows, and rents are at record highs. How is it that glutting supply has failed to drive prices down, correcting over-investment in our housing market?
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Vancouver has some special geographic considerations that you need to consider and within the downtown core the conversion away from single family units is AFAIK completely done[1]. Density increases in the downtown core are now being down by removing lower density apartment/condo buildings and replacing them with higher density buildings. I am aware that the nearest city (New Westminster) is developing pretty active…
What makes you say that Burnaby is a deadzone? Metrotown, Brentwood, Lougheed all seem to be growing like crazy. I moved to Toronto a few years ago and I'm find myself surprised by new buildings every time I go back.
Not to mention Gilmore, Patterson, Edmonds...
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
>In reality supply creation is constrained by real world factors such as time and labour supply and "just add more supply" is not so easy. It takes time. Ultimately, supply is constrained by cost. And in Vancouver, that's not an issue - if the regulation allows it, converting a single family home to a multi-unit dwelling is so ridiculously profitable that the solution to the housing crisis is to simply change zoning…
You're absolutely correct. Vancouver is unlike SF in that it has no issues building new residential buildings. At the moment housing starts in Vancouver are at all time highs, unprecedented for decades, and yet vacancy remains sub zero and housing is very unaffordable. This suggests that even these unprecedented levels of supply creation are unable to meet demand, and there are more issues at play than a lack of supp…
It suggests that the rate of new supply is less than the rate of new demand.
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Normally the news articles say its Chinese investors parking their money in Vancouver housing since it is likely to be stable compared to the yuan, etc.
Ah yes, the Chinese investor bogeyman. Apparently there are enough millionaires to cause problems in so many cities around the globe. Yet latest figures put foreign ownership at around 10% max. Let's ignore low interest rates and Canadians bidding against themselves in a hot market.
Exactly! I would guess that another driver of high prices is speculation by Canadians. Low interest rates and the "real estate always goes up" mentality has created a ton of panicked buyers who are willing to extend themselves financially in order to prevent being priced out of the market forever.
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do you call it distortion? Its the opposite: the distortion is having empty properties, hotel taxes and zoning. You make a weird argument: you mention the people that work in the city and want to live near it, and this argument has at least 2 flaws. The first one is that in a numbers game, the people that lose out on this exchange is a much smaller number than all the rest. That is, a small proportion of people s…
Your argument is absurd, the first sentence gives it away 'empty properties'. Vancouver has no empty properties.
Then why do I hear so many stories about Chinese who buy properties in Vancouver and leave it vacant? Seems it's in the news every week.
Re: Vancouver signs first agreement in Canada with Airbnb for short-term rentals
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ah yes, the Chinese investor bogeyman. Apparently there are enough millionaires to cause problems in so many cities around the globe. Yet latest figures put foreign ownership at around 10% max. Let's ignore low interest rates and Canadians bidding against themselves in a hot market.
I also think the foreign investor thing is overblown, but it’s always the marginal demand that causes prices to go up. Take 10% of the property owners out of a market and prices will go down.
You can say that about any non-zero share of the market; take it out and it becomes cheaper! I believe the reason we even talk about foreign investors is that the collective mind would like to attribute the mess to "them" versus "us".