3 ms·

Why? I've seen this before but it always mystified me. Oh, and totally tangentially but: how do human beings actually live in Vancouver? The rents and real est

by api 11y ago

Why? I've seen this before but it always mystified me. Oh, and totally tangentially but: how do human beings actually live in Vancouver? The rents and real estate prices are almost as bad as the Bay Area but minus the high paying jobs.

stanmancan 11y ago
The Lower Mainland is a pretty big area, the farther away from Downtown Vancouver the lower the rent is. I rent a small 3 bedroom house in North Delta (about a 45 minute drive to Downtown, no traffic. An hour if I park and take the train in) and pay $1550/m plus utilities. The house we're in sold for $510,000 in November 2014. It's very difficult for any single family to purchase even a small house. The vast majority of the houses being sold where I live are being bought by Indian/East Asian families who will buy the property, tear down the house, build a massive multi-tenant home, and have 2-3 families living under the same roof. A ton of property is also being purchased by people who will get their Canadian residency, buy a bunch of property, but still live in China. The property is bought as investments and left empty. There are area's downtown that are full of 20+ story residential buildings but yet the streets are deserted since nobody is actually living there. Super strange. Everyone who I know who's purchased recently is either buying townhouses or condo's (which are both still going for a minimum of $350K for 1-2 bedrooms).
serge2k 11y ago
Rents aren't as bad as the bay area (still awful) and the skytrain makes getting around easy. Most people just don't live in Vancouver proper. As for why, there isn't enough upward pressure. Vancouver is at least getting a few of the big companies, but they really need to get some big tech in sucking up talent to drive some competition in salaries. Currently if people want money they head south, those who stay are in a market where they can't command the big salaries.
a3n 11y ago
> Why? Total guess, there isn't a critical mass of companies whose owners, executives and shareholders are missing out on billions in profit because they can't find enough sw engineers. Said another way (a guess again), developers are not rare enough for current demand.
Tiktaalik 11y ago
Rent is nowhere near as bad as the Bay Area. For example one could find a brand new apartment in Mount Pleasant (Essentially Vancouver's Mission) for less than $1500. However recently the vacancy rate has dropped to near zero, even though new condos are constantly being built, so the problem is actually finding a place. Accordingly rents are rising substantially. http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2015/12/16/vancouver-rental-rates-spike-as-vacancy-hovers-near-zero.html http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2015/12/16/vancouver-...
stanmancan 11y ago
Just happened to see this article today talking about how much real estate costs in various area's of Greater Vancouver: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/12/metro-vancouver-real-estate-prices-heat-map-2015/ http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/12/metro-vancouver-real-esta...

by api 11y ago

stanmancan 11y ago

The Lower Mainland is a pretty big area, the farther away from Downtown Vancouver the lower the rent is. I rent a small 3 bedroom house in North Delta (about a 45 minute drive to Downtown, no traffic. An hour if I park and take the train in) and pay $1550/m plus utilities. The house we're in sold for $510,000 in November 2014. It's very difficult for any single family to purchase even a small house. The vast majority of the houses being sold where I live are being bought by Indian/East Asian families who will buy the property, tear down the house, build a massive multi-tenant home, and have 2-3 families living under the same roof. A ton of property is also being purchased by people who will get their Canadian residency, buy a bunch of property, but still live in China. The property is bought as investments and left empty. There are area's downtown that are full of 20+ story residential buildings but yet the streets are deserted since nobody is actually living there. Super strange. Everyone who I know who's purchased recently is either buying townhouses or condo's (which are both still going for a minimum of $350K for 1-2 bedrooms).

serge2k 11y ago

Rents aren't as bad as the bay area (still awful) and the skytrain makes getting around easy. Most people just don't live in Vancouver proper. As for why, there isn't enough upward pressure. Vancouver is at least getting a few of the big companies, but they really need to get some big tech in sucking up talent to drive some competition in salaries. Currently if people want money they head south, those who stay are in a market where they can't command the big salaries.

a3n 11y ago

> Why? Total guess, there isn't a critical mass of companies whose owners, executives and shareholders are missing out on billions in profit because they can't find enough sw engineers. Said another way (a guess again), developers are not rare enough for current demand.

Tiktaalik 11y ago

Rent is nowhere near as bad as the Bay Area. For example one could find a brand new apartment in Mount Pleasant (Essentially Vancouver's Mission) for less than $1500. However recently the vacancy rate has dropped to near zero, even though new condos are constantly being built, so the problem is actually finding a place. Accordingly rents are rising substantially. http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2015/12/16/vancouver-rental-rates-spike-as-vacancy-hovers-near-zero.html http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2015/12/16/vancouver-...

stanmancan 11y ago

Just happened to see this article today talking about how much real estate costs in various area's of Greater Vancouver: http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/12/metro-vancouver-real-estate-prices-heat-map-2015/ http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/12/metro-vancouver-real-esta...