5 ms·
bigger cities in most first world countries generally have more expensive housing This is partly because they're innately more desirable locations -- people ar
by cperciva 12y ago
bigger cities in most first world countries generally have more expensive housing
This is partly because they're innately more desirable locations -- people are willing to pay more to live in a city with major sports teams, museums, opera houses, universities, shopping centers, etc.
housing prices to income ratios
The most recent statistics I've seen show Vancouver as having the highest housing price to income ratio; while Vancouver's median housing price is relatively modest (closer to Santa Barbara than San Francisco or San Jose), Vancouver's median household income is quite low (around the same as Minneapolis or Baltimore).
Interestingly, if you look at Vancouver's recent housing price trends, you'll see two very different trends: Prices of detached houses have roughly doubled in the past 8 years, while prices of condos have barely kept up with inflation. This makes perfect sense in terms of geography: There is no more land available for detached houses in Vancouver, but condo construction is booming (a few years ago Vancouver had more units of condos under construction than New York).
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoVancouver is a distorted market...Any market that is inudated with Chinese speculators is.
- Jack000 12y agoI don't buy the foreign ownership theory behind Vancouver property prices [1]. My personal theory is that the large Chinese-Canadian population in Vancouver forms most of the demand for overpriced detached homes. Within my family at least, there seems to be an irrational desire to own a home despite renting being a better financial decision. [1] http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/scant-evidence-behind-myth-of-vancouver-real-estates-foreign-buyers/article9000860/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/scant-e...
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoThey might be resident in Vancouver, sure, but the money being used to buy the house is coming from China, often gray money that is responsible for huge distortions in the Chinese market. And they'll go high end, which is why condos are more immune to this. It's not just Vancouver, but you see this in some parts of San francisco and Seattle (well, Bellevue) also.