acer rose

Thanks, but that is still well past retirement in my case and possible for anybody over 30. I'm not saying everybody retires at 65, but those who imagined a bit of part-time consultancy to stave off boredom will find full-time work becomes more of a necessity.

If you have student loans to pay off (thankfully I don't) or child care expenses, and you are newly arrived in Vancouver (in the last couple of years), as others have said above, you'd better be bringing a significant amount of cash with you if you hope avoid starting at the bottom of the housing ladder because Vancouver salaries won't make up the differnece. With current gas prices, even living further out is no longer a cheap option, and commute times will be similar to what people put up with in the UK. On the basis of a quick survey of friends with different occupations, the general feeling is that they would be paid more if they lived in Toronto. Of course, none of us choose to do that

This is quite specific to the Lower Mainland rather than generally applicable to BC.

bazzz

As I've pointed out quite a few times already, renting is relatively cheap in Vancouver, so if you're not obsessed with owning the place that you live in, it's not so bad.

JonboyE

To be honest, I think they are being very sensible. I wouldn't buy real estate in Vancouver at the moment. We won't have a price crash anything like the US or the UK, but I can certainly see a very soft market for the next 2 - 3 years. 2011 or 2012 will be a good time to reassess.

When I quoted those figures I was thinking of the private sector. I didn't include teachers, who earn less, and nurses whose base salaries are less. Of course, I should have, but it is difficult to compare public and private sector earnings because there is generally much more in the public sector package.

Juliew

Hi there,

I would agree with the salaries above with the exception of one point; Many trades people and contractors are earning very near to above $100,000. Also many nurses are earning near $100,000 as well.

Having lived in the Southeast of England for 4 years, the salaries in Vancouver seem very comparable to the Southeast with the exception of London city workers.

acer rose

True enough. Most of the people I know happen to work in the non-profit sector (government, NGOs, education) and think they are onto a good thing if they are earning an average wage when so many people around them are doing similar jobs as volunteers. In my particular field this is not an insignificant issue (worlwide). I choose Vancouver so I suck it up, but thought it worthwhile pointing out.

We came to the same conclusions and are quite happily renting after quenching the recent desire to get on the property conveyor. The main downside of renting in the long term is that in the classic mortgage model, you have paid it off by retirement so your decrease in income will not render you roofless, asusming you have enough to pay the other bills. Rent is going to keep increasing with the market so when you retire, you'd better either have the same income level planned to be able to pay the market rent in 20, 30, 40 years or plan to retire to somewhere much cheaper.

Surrey Expat

Not come across many (any) employed trades people earning $50 an hour, more likely to be in the range of $25 - $35 an hour, still not to be sniffed at. Lots of self employed may charge near to $50 and hour, but then they have expenses to come off of that. Salaries in Canada are lower then the UK in most instances, especially the SE of England. Lots of wage earners in the SE commute to high paying jobs, hence the exceptionally high cost of housing.

Anyone coming here in the expectation of similar or higher paying jobs is more likely to be disappointed than not. A lot depends on the industry, labour shortages and the how the economy impacts a particular industry sector. Although in agriculture to address the unskilled labour shortages foreign workers are brought in on minimum wage.

If work, wages and vacation time are prime concerns for a prospective immigrant, this may not be the right move.

getoutofbritainquick

Well I can certainly say the utility industry in Canada pays better than the UK. My salary is much better than the UK for the equivalent job and my crews earn about 25% more than their UK partners and with OT well over $100k, some to $200k. There certainly appears to be a lot of wealthy people in BC with lots of toys so someone must be paying for it.

bazzz

That depends. Our rent is probably about $1000-$1500 a month cheaper than a mortgage on such a place would be. So, we can stash that extra money into savings and in 25 years would have a big stack of cash to buy a place outright. Maybe house prices will increase faster than our investments; maybe not.

Surrey Expat

Guess many of us are in the wrong job then!

acer rose

That approach assumes that you would have the income to pay that mortgage but instead choose to rent and save the remainder. Not always the case!

The best savings interest rate I've found (casually) in Canada is about 4.5%. You can get more if you are prepared to offshore it and risk the currency market... What is the average (25 year) house price increase?

I agree that in the present climate it makes far more sense to rent and save as much as possible but if it gets so that I can pay in mortgage roughly what I pay in rent, I'll be looking to buy personally.

Surrey Expat

Get a mortgage, buy a house, rent out the basement and have someone else help pay your mortgage! You end up with a lower cost house and get the the capital gain on the property, they get to move on.

Even better, buy more houses and have others help build your wealth.

Thank goodness for renters (so long as you find good ones).

Juliew

Hi there,

It really depends what job you are doing. Many jobs in finance and IT do not pay as well as the SE of England, but many others will earn better. Nurses, teachers, police, firemen, tradespeople, salespeople etc. will earn the same or better. In BC, many people I know do very well because they work alot of overtime. I personally know many tradespeople and nurses earning near $100K because of the overtime they are putting in. It is true that they work long hours; however noone works as much as the high paid London city workers that I know. Interestingly enough the highest paid London worker I know has recently being laid off and has had to leave the UK in search of work.

bazzz

Still not that easy. A house in the areas I like the look of would be around $1m. Not sure who'd give me a mortgage of that size.

Surrey Expat

Often the difference between getting a loan for such a venture and not can be how you put the proposal together.

Surrey Expat

We seem to have quite different experiences of the SE of England and SW BC.