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It would be delicious and terrible irony if Vancouver took over the role of startup capital, since it is the only place with a more unaffordable housing market
by Pxtl 10y ago
It would be delicious and terrible irony if Vancouver took over the role of startup capital, since it is the only place with a more unaffordable housing market than the SF bay.
- mediocrejoker 10y agoVancouver's prices are high but they are not SF-high. If you mean housing cost relative to salary, however, that's perhaps a different story.
- iLoch 10y agoThe average software engineering salary is somewhere around $75k here though.
- Tiktaalik 10y agoThe average price of a detached home in Metro Vancouver (includes suburbs of Vancouver) in February was $1.76 million. That's down from $1.82 million a year earlier. 99.7% of properties in the City of Vancouver proper are valued at more than $1 million. The average price for a detached home in the City of Vancouver in 2016 was $2.77 million. I've had some trouble finding closely comparable values but it seems like the median SF detached home price is ~$1 million. Even considering the exchange rate, it seems like Vancouver is more expensive. Certainly when one compares typical incomes Vancouver is dramatically less affordable than San Francisco.
- Kluny 10y agoAre you only counting detached homes? There are very few of those in Vancouver proper. If there are any, they are mansions. Do the same comparison with condos? And apartments?
- Tiktaalik 10y agoNo you are very incorrect. 81% of the land area of the City of Vancouver is zoned for detached homes and most of these are simple, cheap post war houses or cheap 60s era "Vancouver Specials."
- sedachv 10y agoThe houses in Vancouver are so crappy someone even made a joke quiz about it, in 2010, when the prices were a lot lower: http://www.crackshackormansion.com/ http://www.crackshackormansion.com/
- dfrey 10y agoThis is false. There are lots of small, old crappy houses in Vancouver. It's just that they cost a ridiculously large amount of money. Here's a pretty typical example: https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/17409318/5533-CULLODEN-STREET-Vancouver-British-Columbia-V5W3R9 https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/17409318/55... Before you ask, no that's not even in a really desirable part of Vancouver. That will cost you another million. See this as an example: https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/17850427/3105-W-24TH-AVENUE-Vancouver-British-Columbia-V6L1R7 https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/17850427/31...
- dgudkov 10y agoQuick fact check returned this: "In all, 745 detached homes sold in Metro Vancouver last month, a massive 58.1 per cent drop from February 2016. The benchmark price for detached homes was $1,474,200, unchanged from the previous month but down 6.5 per cent from the past six months."[1]. Also [2]. And that's CAD, not USD. In USD it's $1,092,000. Still very expensive but not $1.76mln. [1] http://news.buzzbuzzhome.com/2017/03/metro-vancouver-home-listings-hit-14-year-february-low.html http://news.buzzbuzzhome.com/2017/03/metro-vancouver-home-li... [2] http://www.vancourier.com/news/sales-average-detached-home-price-slump-in-metro-vancouver-1.2336362 http://www.vancourier.com/news/sales-average-detached-home-p...
- Tiktaalik 10y agoYeah those are "benchmark" prices, which is a special MLS measurement designed to value a "typical" home. I decided to ignore that valuation method and instead use average prices because I'm not sure if a similar or comparable measurement tool as the benchmark exists for SF home valuations. http://www.rew.ca/news/benchmark-vs-average-vs-median-what-s-the-difference-1.2096130 http://www.rew.ca/news/benchmark-vs-average-vs-median-what-s...
- Pxtl 10y agoThe housing price has deflated substantially in the past year because of a one-two-punch of a foreign buyer's tax and the Chinese government cracking down on rich Chinese people smuggling their money out of the country into foreign real-estate systems. Vancouver's market had a reputation of being driven by Chinese cash... and whether that's true or not, perception is reality when it comes to markets.
- neptunespear 10y ago$600 CAD/month for a bedroom in a house that's close to frequent transit and in a low-crime area isn't hard to find if you don't have your heart set on living right in downtown Vancouver. I am not going to pay $2200/month to live in gangland-torn East Menlo Park.
- ng12 10y agoDo you still live in the 1980's? Belle Haven is not gangland.
- neptunespear 10y agoThe area bordered by US 101, Willow Road and the Union Pacific tracks is an exception. However, the rest of EMP makes Vancouver's Downtown Eastside or even the neighbourhood of Whalley in Surrey look like the most peaceful, crime-free utopia that has ever existed. At least we don't have Nortenos and Surenos blowing each others' heads off like in adjacent East Palo Alto.
- dmode 10y agoI drive through EPA daily. It is nothing like the South Los Angeles type gang land that you are trying to portray.
- tn13 10y agoI think you are totally wrong on this one.
- nostrademons 10y agoEven EPA has come up in the world dramatically in the last few years. As of 2014, its violent crime rate was half that of SF, only 25% more than San Jose, and roughly double that of Mountain View. I'd consider Mountain View a very safe place; EPA is basically turning into just another Silicon Valley suburb.
- ng12 10y agoDude, what are you talking about? That triangle you outlined is virtually all of East Menlo Park that isn't office space. Anything south of 101 is not EMP (and generally pretty nice). Have you been in the area in the last 30 years? There hasn't been a homicide anywhere in Menlo Park since 2012.