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It's hard to draw direct comparisons between Vancouver and San Francisco's housing markets. Canada, as well as each of the provinces, local municipalities, and
by Patrick_Devine 8y ago
It's hard to draw direct comparisons between Vancouver and San Francisco's housing markets. Canada, as well as each of the provinces, local municipalities, and cities, have representational democracy, not a quasi-direct democracy like California.
The spike in affordability in Vancouver wasn't caused directly due to a shortage in housing stock and an influx of residents. It was caused by rampant speculation from people essentially using Vancouver as a safety net to park wealth.
I can't overstate how detrimental this is to a city. What you end up with are entire neighbourhoods which are occupied at 50% or less, and yet with the value of the homes exceeding $2-$4 million. It causes stores in those local neighbourhoods to close because there aren't enough customers. It taxes the fire department because no one is there to call 911 when a fire starts. It guts schools because there aren't enough kids to fill classrooms.
And with all of this going on, former local residents and young people are pushed further and further out of the urban core due to affordability. Vancouverites make less than half of what an average tech salary pays in the SF Bay Area, and the jobs are much harder to come by.
That said, yes, Airbnb and other vacation rentals were exacerbating the problem, and causing Vancouver to turn further into a vacation/tourism destination instead of a real working city. San Francisco suffers from this to a certain extent, however, its real problem is that it has a massive influx of workers due to a booming tech economy, and not enough housing stock to accommodate all of those workers.
- koolba 8y ago> It guts schools because there aren't enough kids to fill classrooms. That one doesn’t sound bad at all. Every other school district complains about the reviser, too many kids and not enough teachers / tax dollars.
- crazypyro 8y agoNot sure about Canada, but I know in many places in America, schools are budgeted on a per student basis, so losing kids (who still are going to school, just somewhere else) strains the school they are leaving with less money and then strains the schools where they are migrating to as the infrastructure now has to support more kids without having time to ramp up. So I think the problem kind of goes both ways.
- darawk 8y agoIn America, schools are also funded by property tax, though.
- YokoZar 8y agoNot universally. In California, for instance, by law half of the state budget must go to education regardless of source.
- seanmcdirmid 8y agoCalifornia is unique because of Proposition 13, though.
- joncrane 8y agoWait, people were treating real estate in Vancouver like putting their money in the stock market? And on top of that, there were lots of real estate investors who weren't even trying to keep their places occupied? Isn't that super irresponsible investing?
- TomVDB 8y agoFor the longest time, it was very profitable investing. It’s not less irresponsible than buying Tesla stock.
- victorelu 8y agoI think that’s one of the reasons Amsterdam has an anti-squatting law which basically forces owners that don’t live at home for a certain period in a year to rent it.
- DelaneyM 8y agoSo does Vancouver. https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-tax.aspx https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-t...
- robotbikes 8y agoWouldn't this be a pro-squatting law ? Ie if you don't live in a property and leave it abandoned you risk people semi-legally squatting in it.
- reaperducer 8y agoI can't overstate how detrimental this is to a city. What you end up with are entire neighbourhoods which are occupied at 50% or less, and yet with the value of the homes exceeding $2-$4 million. It causes stores in those local neighbourhoods to close because there aren't enough customers. I've read that this is the case in London, as well. And probably lots of other cities with names that are well known in China and Russia.