scrubbedexpat091

Good news for tech workers at least, in the next couple of years Amazon will be adding something like 6,000 tech jobs in Vancouver, downside is this will put even more pressure on the housing stock, and likely to push rents up.

I wouldn't call Kelowna a town filled with opportunity, and while rents are lower than Vancouver, they certainly not affordable, just cheaper which are 2 terms people mix up sometimes, so many times on reddit people telling others to move to Surrey, or Burnaby because its affordable, no these places are just cheaper, but not necessarily affordable.

scrubbedexpat091

New Brunswick has gained the attention of investors who are buying up rental properties, and tenants seeing rent increases, in one case a 62% increase in rent when the buyer took over.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-b...ices-1.5782841


I don't have particularly high hopes for Canada, basic needs like housing are becoming less and less affordable every year.

While here in Kelowna is lower than Vancouver, it's still not affordable, there really isn't any city in BC that is affordable for our income level.

scrubbedexpat091

"Almost one in four renter households (23 per cent) lived in a dwelling that did not suit their family size or budget. By comparison, only 6.5 per cent of owners were considered housing disadvantaged. "

"Of those in core housing need, three out of four households could not meet the affordability criteria."


Article Here.

scrubbedexpat091

Vancouver has a mess on it's hand when it comes to low income housing, doesn't help that the province feels $375 per month is sufficient for disabled and those unable/incapable of working to secure housing.

https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/11/13/T...otecting-SROs/

CanadaJimmy

Yes the BC welfare policy seems to be to sweep the impoverished out into rural towns which creates a whole slew of other problems.

abner

What, exactly, is the problem with trying to ensure that one's offspring, or grandchildren, can benefit from a lifetime of one's own labors??

Please be specific.

scrubbedexpat091

And those smaller cities and towns have little to no resources and are not cheap enough anymore either and some like Chilliwack are completely overwhelmed beyond their ability to cope.

The housing rate as been at $375 since 2007 ish and was probably insufficient even then to secure housing.

scrubbedexpat091

Satire but satire has some level of truth to it. But it's an amusing read worth sharing.

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2018/03...le-owns-house/

scrubbedexpat091

Our old building in Vancouver, got curious and checked current availability.

2017 studio micro suites 400sq feet $1,400
2017 1 bedroom 1,750

2020 studio $1,895 and 1 bedroom $2,100

Insane, and it's in a not so good part of Vancouver, so "cheap" part of Vancouver

Siouxie

Woah - that's crazy! Whilst my area is going up in price, it's nowhere near as expensive as Vancouver.. even the 2017 prices are higher than here.

scrubbedexpat091

I should also note they call these affordable market rentals, the builder got fees waived if in return they offered "affordable" market rate, but the city has skewed view of what affordable is.

Siouxie

This makes for interesting reading - and an eye opener for many potential immigrants, I would imagine - and bearing in mind that due to Covid, some landlords have had to reduce their prices in the hope of filling the space (particularly those that rent out houses to students etc., I would imagine) - or haven't been able to rent them out at all.
https://rentals.ca/national-rent-report

scrubbedexpat091

The apartment building acriss the street its not even completed yet and 100% rented according to the rental office. Rents were starting around 1,700 ish a month.

Former Lancastrian

I guess it depends where you live in Canada. I have run out of ****s to give for those who choose to move to Vancouver and in some cases Toronto. How many years have we been saying house and rent prices are too expensive but yet thousands still want to move there. How many times have we heard there will be a crash and prices will fall? Well have they?
Now how reliable this website is I have no idea but have fun using it

https://www.crea.ca/housing-market-s...nal-price-map/

https://wowa.ca/reports/canada-housing-market

Sort of like listening to the people in the UK saying I want to move to London but it's too expensive. Well yeah if you are making just over minimum wage then I guess these cities are out of reach to many but sure go ahead and move there and then start complaining but I won't be feeling sorry for you.

scrubbedexpat091

Problem is it's no longer isolated to Vancouver and Toronto nor just affecting min wage or near min wage workers.

This article is a year old so slightly out of date, average rents seem to have increased since then.

"In order to live comfortably in Kelowna residents need to make $52,000 annually to afford a one-bedroom place in the city."

"The average wage in Kelowna is just over $45,000"

As you can see it's not just an issue affecting those making at or near min wage, even the average income earner in Kelowna can't really afford to live here. We make above min wage but below the Kelowna average.

At our income level CMHC says $850 is the max we should be paying, so we pay about $500 per month more than the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp say's is affordable. BC Housing the agency that handles subsidized housing, pegs Kelowna for a family unit our size that $51,000 and below can't afford market rent, and in theory should be in subsidized housing, but of course that housing is in very very short supply. A single person making under $40,000 BC Housing say's can't afford market rents in Kelowna.

Of the 35 city's list on this chart not one has an average rent that we could actually afford. Except moving out of BC would drastically lower our income, so we wouldn't be able to afford $850 in most other provinces.

Kelowna is you have the land and money to build rental apartments is a good money maker right now, chances are you can have them all rented before you even complete the project, it's insanity how short supply rentals are.


As for London, UK how far out can one go to locate housing and still commute to London for work realistically?

In Vancouver Chilliwack and Squamish are as far out as you can go, about 100km and 75km away from downtown, but there isn't any public transit options so a car is necessary.



People move to the big metro areas as often those areas are where they need to be for their careers, if you in the movie industry, living in Prince George isn't gonna get you employed but living in Vancouver will, Vancouver is turning into a little tech hub, so tech workers go there since the jobs are there, I would imagine Toronto is similiar.

One of the reasons about 50% of BC residents live in the Lower Mainland, that is where the jobs are. BC is a Vancouver centric place, even most healthcare is centered in Vancouver. Should be no surprise as to why people tend to move to the Vancouver area, not necessarily Vancouver itself.




Keep this in mind, Kelowna is the 3rd largest "metro" area in BC, 219,000 population.

Metro Vancouver being the largest with 2,264,823 (2016 census estimate) followed by Victoria in second place 335,696

As you can see there isn't a huge amount of options in BC as to where to live if you have a career, lots of careers are not found in any large number outside of Vancouver area.