5 ms·

Or maybe people should adjust their perception of what "residential housing" looks and feels like. The concept of large detached single-family lots is unsustain

Or maybe people should adjust their perception of what "residential housing" looks and feels like. The concept of large detached single-family lots is unsustainable. Much better would be 2-3 floor row houses or 3-4 floor midrises with plenty of green space in walkable distance.

taurath 9y ago
Unsustainable, or unsustainable in the face of people using property as an investment rather than a place to live? Foreign investment has destroyed Vancouvers affordability. The city is half full of rich Chinese driving Audis, and nearly all real estate signs come in Chinese. The same is happening down the west coast of the US as well as Toronto now. We need to prioritize affordability - and not just subsidies for the poor. The middle is being hollowed out, and only those with family history in the area are affording anything. Basically if you aren't on the ladder when it shot up to the sky you are screwed now.
- s0rce 9y ago
  Foreign investment might be the problem in Vancouver but the situation is not the same across the west coast. The SF Bay area market isn't dominated by foreign investment, people make more money. In the end population increases but the number of detached homes does not therefore a smaller percentage of the population we'll be able to afford them and they will be now expensive. You simply can't expect everyone to have a house in a city. Move to rural Kansas or Oregon
  - wavefunction 9y ago
    You don't see the connection between "make more money" and asset inflation in prices of homes? You act like you're (Bay area) living like kings. I pay moderate amount for a nice place in a less happening tech but far more pleasant city, and I don't have to live like an animal.
- msie 9y ago
  "The city is half full of rich Chinese driving Audis, and nearly all real estate signs come in Chinese." No, this is not true. You must not live in Vancouver. It is really sad that this myth continues to have a life of its own. I mostly blame the press and politicians for perpetuating it. I also blame everyone for lazy thinking. Latest reports peg foreign ownership at 5%. People seem to overlook that the majority of buyers are Canadians who want to live in Vancouver, the favourable mortgage rates, and the geography of Vancouver which makes it hard to build more SD houses.
  - CountSessine 9y ago
    No, this is not true. You must not live in Vancouver. It is really sad that this myth continues to have a life of its own I am from Vancouver and I don't know what you're talking about - every for-sale sign I see here in Burnaby for a detached house is primarily or exclusively in Chinese. Do you live in Vancouver? Latest reports peg foreign ownership at 5%. These are reports that are published almost exclusively by the BCREA, an organization that is known to misrepresent data (the so-called 'Benchmark Home' price, cross-market mixing, etc) and is the only organization other than the government that has this data. Do you know why the provincial government imposed the foreign buyers tax? It was because after about 6 months of collecting this data, they realized that they had been so thoroughly and completely lied to by the BCREA, especially for sales figures in Burnaby and Coquitlam, that they felt compelled to act. The 5% sales figure comes from aggregating all sales of all 'homes', condo+detached houses+apartments+pre-sales across the entire Fraser Valley, including places like Chilliwack. It also groups together the absurd stock of 1 bedroom condos that families can't live in with detached houses which 10 years ago families depended on. Please stop quoting this ridiculous 5% figure - you're doing so much more damage than you realize. I can't be everywhere to correct you. Nobody cares about house prices in Chilliwack because they're still quite reasonable and they're too far away from where all of the jobs are. 75% of the GVRD is inflexibly zoned for detached houses and all of this property has now been bid out of the hands of Canadians who earn their living in this city. What good is 95% of housing not being purchased by foreign investors when it's all in Chilliwack or Squamish or is one of the ubiquitous lofts or 1 bedroom apartments that are completely unsuitable for families? Ideally we would de-zone Vancouver and allow the city to organically densify - a city that can build as many homes as it needs can frustrate investors and still provide everyone with an affordable home. But in the meantime, the foreign buyer tax halted rocketing detached house prices and put a lid on what anyone can charge for similar market housing like 3 and 4 bedroom condos. Let's not pretend that this was going to get any better without that tax.
- tomnewton 9y ago
  Your comment is racist - and certainly unCanadian. What on earth does someone's race have to do with the housing market? Why does a person of Chinese decent have any less of a right to a) live in Vancouver, b) buy a house, c) have some economic success, d) drive an Audi? I'm sorry you're upset about the state of housing in Canada, I really am. Fortunately for you - most desirable cities in the Canada ( and the World ) have Chinese residents so you wouldn't be happy living there anyways - all those signs in Chinese, and the Audis! Oh the humanity!
  - havetocharge 9y ago
    As a Canadian, I have to agree. Imagine someone in the States said something about blacks in Atlanta driving Bentleys.. There would be a riot. In Canada, however, it is cool to bash a whole race. This is not the first instance of this that I have seen and it does show true colours.
  - taurath 9y ago
    I've been visited by the shame police it seems, and you've extrapolated such an amazing amount over saying "wow there's a lot of rich Chinese here" that I wonder if you are doing some sort of parody I'm missing.

taurath 9y ago

Unsustainable, or unsustainable in the face of people using property as an investment rather than a place to live? Foreign investment has destroyed Vancouvers affordability. The city is half full of rich Chinese driving Audis, and nearly all real estate signs come in Chinese. The same is happening down the west coast of the US as well as Toronto now. We need to prioritize affordability - and not just subsidies for the poor. The middle is being hollowed out, and only those with family history in the area are affording anything. Basically if you aren't on the ladder when it shot up to the sky you are screwed now.

s0rce 9y ago
Foreign investment might be the problem in Vancouver but the situation is not the same across the west coast. The SF Bay area market isn't dominated by foreign investment, people make more money. In the end population increases but the number of detached homes does not therefore a smaller percentage of the population we'll be able to afford them and they will be now expensive. You simply can't expect everyone to have a house in a city. Move to rural Kansas or Oregon
- wavefunction 9y ago
  You don't see the connection between "make more money" and asset inflation in prices of homes? You act like you're (Bay area) living like kings. I pay moderate amount for a nice place in a less happening tech but far more pleasant city, and I don't have to live like an animal.
msie 9y ago
"The city is half full of rich Chinese driving Audis, and nearly all real estate signs come in Chinese." No, this is not true. You must not live in Vancouver. It is really sad that this myth continues to have a life of its own. I mostly blame the press and politicians for perpetuating it. I also blame everyone for lazy thinking. Latest reports peg foreign ownership at 5%. People seem to overlook that the majority of buyers are Canadians who want to live in Vancouver, the favourable mortgage rates, and the geography of Vancouver which makes it hard to build more SD houses.
- CountSessine 9y ago
  No, this is not true. You must not live in Vancouver. It is really sad that this myth continues to have a life of its own I am from Vancouver and I don't know what you're talking about - every for-sale sign I see here in Burnaby for a detached house is primarily or exclusively in Chinese. Do you live in Vancouver? Latest reports peg foreign ownership at 5%. These are reports that are published almost exclusively by the BCREA, an organization that is known to misrepresent data (the so-called 'Benchmark Home' price, cross-market mixing, etc) and is the only organization other than the government that has this data. Do you know why the provincial government imposed the foreign buyers tax? It was because after about 6 months of collecting this data, they realized that they had been so thoroughly and completely lied to by the BCREA, especially for sales figures in Burnaby and Coquitlam, that they felt compelled to act. The 5% sales figure comes from aggregating all sales of all 'homes', condo+detached houses+apartments+pre-sales across the entire Fraser Valley, including places like Chilliwack. It also groups together the absurd stock of 1 bedroom condos that families can't live in with detached houses which 10 years ago families depended on. Please stop quoting this ridiculous 5% figure - you're doing so much more damage than you realize. I can't be everywhere to correct you. Nobody cares about house prices in Chilliwack because they're still quite reasonable and they're too far away from where all of the jobs are. 75% of the GVRD is inflexibly zoned for detached houses and all of this property has now been bid out of the hands of Canadians who earn their living in this city. What good is 95% of housing not being purchased by foreign investors when it's all in Chilliwack or Squamish or is one of the ubiquitous lofts or 1 bedroom apartments that are completely unsuitable for families? Ideally we would de-zone Vancouver and allow the city to organically densify - a city that can build as many homes as it needs can frustrate investors and still provide everyone with an affordable home. But in the meantime, the foreign buyer tax halted rocketing detached house prices and put a lid on what anyone can charge for similar market housing like 3 and 4 bedroom condos. Let's not pretend that this was going to get any better without that tax.
tomnewton 9y ago
Your comment is racist - and certainly unCanadian. What on earth does someone's race have to do with the housing market? Why does a person of Chinese decent have any less of a right to a) live in Vancouver, b) buy a house, c) have some economic success, d) drive an Audi? I'm sorry you're upset about the state of housing in Canada, I really am. Fortunately for you - most desirable cities in the Canada ( and the World ) have Chinese residents so you wouldn't be happy living there anyways - all those signs in Chinese, and the Audis! Oh the humanity!
- havetocharge 9y ago
  As a Canadian, I have to agree. Imagine someone in the States said something about blacks in Atlanta driving Bentleys.. There would be a riot. In Canada, however, it is cool to bash a whole race. This is not the first instance of this that I have seen and it does show true colours.
- taurath 9y ago
  I've been visited by the shame police it seems, and you've extrapolated such an amazing amount over saying "wow there's a lot of rich Chinese here" that I wonder if you are doing some sort of parody I'm missing.