scrubbedexpat091

Does Vancouver have a housing problem or a wage problem? Combination of both?

" In Canada’s third-largest city, the median household earns the equivalent of $61,036 a year -- in line with Columbus and less than families in Omaha, Nebraska, Kansas City, Missouri and even Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a rural community of 59,000 known for cornfields."

Of the city's in the region of Vancouver (Seattle, Calgary, San Jose, San Francisco) Vancouver ranks the bottom of the list for income.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...a-wage-problem

MarkG

I suspect a lot of it is an immigration issue. Not just us coming in from outside Canada, but people from across Canada moving out West when they retire, after selling their house, and taking all that money out there.

When many of the people buying houses in a city are using money that wasn't earned in that city, it's very easy for house prices to outstrip earnings by a huge margin.

Heck, just look at the south-west in Britain: lots of retired Londoners and other fat-cats moving into rural areas and pricing out the kids who grew up there.

scrubbedexpat091

Good point. I am sure its a mix of issues.

When these articles are posted there are always comments from baby boomers who still dont grasp the reality of today and will say things like just work hard and you will make enough or younger generation cant afford life because they dont work hard enough.

I work pretty hard for not a lot of return and spend 10 to 12 hours a day at work.

I work with 20 somethings who work 16 hours a day 7 days a week and still dont make the median wage.

If Vancouver is 11 years of income to own for a median wage earner that is 22 years for us. Not something that is doable.

The whole province is out of whack.

BuckinghamshireBoy

Spot on, in fact this weekend the BBC News channel are running one of their 'mini-documentaries' exactly on this matter. It seems that some communities are coming together, buying up properties and renovating them - as a kind of collective - and renting them out for very reasonable amounts to local people. The young 'uns simply can't afford to buy in many places thanks to the displaced wealth.

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver could use a ton of dedicated rentals. We looked at a dedicated rental last week and it was 1425/month vs condos in the same area that rent out for 2,100 plus and offer less.

Relying on people buying housing and renting out is not viable especially when the cost to buy is so high.

Seattle realized this and built dedicated rentals and have slowed down the rate rent is increasing.

They can build as many 500k plus condos as they want but the mortgage and strata fees make rent high and do nothing to help.

Shard

No need to go to that trouble, locals can choose to sell to 'young 'uns' at reasonable prices to begin with. After all, it's these same 'young 'uns' parents that are the beneficiaries of the London buyer's inflated bids.

BuckinghamshireBoy

Yes, but... the locals aren't ready to sell - yet - but want to keep the family members in the area.

"Just not under MY bloody roof"

scrubbedexpat091

Seems to be no more entry level way to buy anymore, even condos are beyond the realm for a lot of folks.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4332969/a-greater-vancouver-condo-now-costs-nearly-as-much-as-a-house-4-years-ago-royal-lepage/?utm_source=GlobalBC&utm_medium=Facebook

The last unit to sell in our building sold for 698,000.

And the units are not even that nice and the location is questionable..

those who bought during the pre-sale, but the units are no longer what I would consider an entry into the market at the current prices condos sell for in the region.

If only we were not the black sheep in our families, thing would be different.

scrubbedexpat091

In 1989 6 lots near False Creek were set aside for affordable housing. Now in 2018, those 6 lots remain empty, no housing has been built.

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...nally-be-built


Maybe the housing issue isn't a big deal to people until you reach a point like we have where your literally one foot to the street each month with no way to know if you will have housing in 1 or 2 months.

Sad reality for a lot of people these days.

BuckinghamshireBoy

Bloody hell, what would that buy in terms of rooms and space?

I just clocked that at EUR 454,362 which is a tad more than I just paid for my new place...

Shard

Condos/flats certainly do seem to be becoming the norm in a lot of larger cities. People want to be close to their work and to entertainment. Probably not a bad thing. And as more and more young families opt for condos, they become more valuable as a class of property.

scrubbedexpat091

That unit was a 2 bed 1 bath. 690sq feet.

1 bed 1 bath there are 2 listings currently.

599,900 which is a 1 bed 1 bath with small extra windowless room they call a den, but its just a slightly over sized closest. 670sq feet. Faces north so not overlooking an alley, but lots of traffic noise and sidewalk noise.

625,000 unit is 1bed 1 bath with an actual small den with windows. 685 sq feet.

Sq footage is taken from the listings online, and include the balcony, so actual usable living space is smaller.

I would post the ads, but I don't want to post as they will have the address of the building and thus know where I live.

Monthly strata fees are $350 to $400 depending on size of unit, 2 beds pay a bit more vs 1 bed.

1 parking spot is provided to each unit, additional spots can be leased for $100 per month from the company who owns the parking area.

scrubbedexpat091

And the suburbs really are not a whole lot cheaper anymore especially once you include the cost of a car, gas, insurance etc on top of housing costs and commuting from the burbs so may as well just live in Vancouver itself.

The burbs I suppose make sense if one can afford to own there and they can work there and not need to commute.

But none of the burbs in Vancouver are low enough for us to ever own, and rent isn't substantially cheaper in the burbs anymore either.

BuckinghamshireBoy

Please excuse my ignorance, but what are 'strata fees'? I'm not familiar with that term.

scrubbedexpat091

The fees charged to each unit in a condo building to cover the costs of operating the building, pays for maintenance of common areas, trash pick up, electric charges for common areas, pays the cleaners who clean the building, landscaping etc.

It's in addition to any mortgage one may have.