beckiwoo

biggayowl

Just echoing the sentiments on Vancouver, especially as you have a young family. The housing costs + childcare are a killer. Unless you're pulling in $200k a year I would look elsewhere. Could you work remotely in your profession? Perhaps only commuting every once in a while? I always fancied Gibsons (on the Sunshine Coast) although it's only a 45 minute ferry ride to Horseshoe Bay, but a world away from the city. It's still not cheap, but definitely way more affordable than Van. In terms of places to rent that are a bit cheaper but still easily commutable - look at Port Moody / Coquitlam (they're on the new Evergreen skytrain line) and New Westminster - again skytrain to downtown. Beats getting in the car.

UKexpat82

Hi, I am in a similar position to yourself although slightly further ahead; I already have my PR but not moved yet. I am looking at Vancouver and Calgary, and all places between so just depends on if I find a job before going. I think if you would like to own property then you would get more for less in Alberta or beyond daily commutable distance to Vancouver. You might be able to find some IT work in interior BC (around Kelowna / Kamloops). This would give you a lot more options and no doubt be cheaper as well. From my research I understand living in Vancouver area would be similar in cost to London UK.

scrubbedexpat091

In 2004 when I first moved to BC, the fraser valley was cheap rent wise. We lived in Chilliwack and paid $450 for a 1 bedroom.

Even just 5 years ago you could rent a decent place in Squamish for under 600 or 700 now they have Vancouver style rents.

We have a total income of 32k or so, 2 adults and no kids can survive barely on that in Vancouver assuming you dont want to do anything fun, will cover basic essentials but barely.

The last 14 years have seen housing insanity.

Shard

Probably so many people who can't afford to buy are spilling into the rental market and putting up rents there.

scrubbedexpat091

For sure. Its a domino effect.

scilly

.............. and they are also moving further out from Vancouver, so putting up rents and house prices further and further away from Vancouver, until it really is hardly commuting distance any more.

Who wants to spend between 1-1½ hrs each way?? That can be as much as 3 hours out of your "leisure" time.

The sad part is that there are still small houses in Vancouver that could be affordable ....... but realtors are "amassing lots", and then selling them onto developers for knock down and re-build of town houses or row housing at triple the price of the small house.

Shard

Not really sad, it's giving more people the chance to live within a reasonable commuting distance rather than 1.5 hours away. The reality is that city living (condos / townhouses) is becoming more attractive to many than the traditional house with a decent lot. Not only in Vancouver but around the world.

milly_m

Hi! I moved from Wales to Vancouver with my husband a few months ago and dont regret it at all. Vancouver is beautiful with lots to do, it has downsides like any city, largely the costs and sometimes the slow pace official things move at! We live in the West End downtown which is awesome. My husband is also in IT (senior operations engineer) and there are plenty of jobs here.

Honestly I think one of the main reasons we're enjoying it is we're pulling in a good salary between us so although it's expensive we can afford it. Can't afford to buy anywhere obviously, we didn't have a house to sell in the UK so even on good salaries it would take a while to save up the deposit we'd need! Plus I am not really on board with the idea of paying $1 mill for a condo...

i think there are a few tech/IT companies out Burnaby way if you don't want to be in the city, and plenty don't mind remote working at least some of the time. In my husband's company which has its office downtown I think one guy lives in Kelowna.

scrubbedexpat091

The theory the city has is they replace sfw with duplex or other multi family housing and and housing will be more affordable, problem is nobody is building dedicated rental stock in large quantity and until that happens rents will not stablize or go down and anything to own is still over half a million or more so still not affordable.

This city needs lots of dedicated rental housing.




Go to Chilliwack lets say and need a car and likely take a pay cut, so less money a bit less rent but add in car costs and no cheaper for us. That is why we just stay in Vancouver.

The burbs are only affordable if you can either make a good wage in the burbs or make high enough income to justify the commute costs.

scilly

Yes, it is sad ......... because the one affordable house is combined with 3 or 4 neighbouring houses and lots of approximately the same value, to be replaced with 12 narrow 3 storey row houses, each of which is TRIPLE the price of one of the original houses (which was probably larger in floor space). The buyers of those new houses have more money than the person who would have been able to buy the original ............... so the poorer person is still not able to afford a house.

It would make sense if the new developments were priced for low/lower income buyers, but this is NOT what is happening.

We own one of those older small houses, have lived in it since 1972. If we sell, we would make a large profit over our original buying price .......... but we would not have enough money tobe able to buy a new place to live in Vancouver, whether that be a house, row house or condo!


Hopefully, things might change now that we have a new City Council, although 5 of the councillors belong to a developer-friendly party. It remains to be seen how a mish-mash council will proceed over the next 4 years, especially with regard to this problem. It's going to take discussion and consensus, and I'm not that convinced that will be easy with the composition that we have been left with.

Shard

The point you are missing Scilly is that Vancouver real estate is in far more demand than it was 50 years ago when you arrived. There simply isn't the space in central locations for single family dwellings, so there is a push to density in many neighbourhoods. Expectations of space have changed too. It's hard to believe that if you own a house in Vancouver you would not be able to sell and buy a condo, let alone a townhouse.

Siouxie

I think the point Scilly is trying to make is that the developers are pricing the average person out of the market when they replace several smaller homes with cheek by jowl townhouses or condo's - it would be different if they were pricing 'some' of them at a level the average joe could afford - but they are not, they are in it to make money.
I'm not sure the demand is that much higher, the lack of affordable housing and the greed of developers has certainly increased though!


Anyway, perhaps we could get back to the original question by the OP rather than taking their thread over... thanks - sorry Lwasylow!

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver is a lost cause at this point.

jeremy brewer