absentee ownership gets a lot of press lately but really the big driver is its a great city(and country) to immigrate to from pretty much anywhere in the world.
The Decline of Vancouver.
I think the point you're missing is the underlying value of the city?
Values are personal. I don't live or work or spend much time in the City (of Vancouver) and I try to avoid it going in as much as I can. I don't give a rat's ass (sorry, Rat) about restaurants, brew pubs, entertainment, concerts, the social scene, culture, how easy or hard it is to get laid, how good the shopping is, or which neighborhoods are cool, which are not. I enjoy proximity to the forests, mountains, lakes and the ocean, I like being able to bike 12 months of the year. Until "they" take that away (and I move), I think I will just sit back and take it all in myself.
So what is it? (Aside from overly inflated and close to the mountains)
a perfect storm of cheap money (historic low rates and down payments), highly biased media, and a cult of home ownership, with a little bit of foreign investment on the side.
A pretty kick ass place to live IMO
I am moving to BC (Richmond) simply because if I am going to be broke and underpaid, I may as well be so somewhere where the lifestyle makes it worth it, and because business ethics on the west coast blow away anything around here (3 weeks vacation to start is unheard of here, as is profit sharing.)You guys also have way better public transport, public welfare and environmental policies. People keep telling me "oh the rent there is super expensive" as if it's not here in Toronto where I work… I could pay 2000$ a month here for rent, or 2000$ a month for rent in the GVA - at least in the GVA I can kayak, mountain bike, do some world class fishing, explore natural areas, cycle commute and not be judged as we are here and of course, this is a big one… you guys have snow on the ground on average for 9 days a year - here it's 68 days a year. Also, have you guys ever experienced a day that is -30C with windchill adding onto it to make it like… -38C? That's the kind of cold I was hunting in last year.
Whoever said "no matter where you go people will bitch about where they live" is absolutely correct, I've been in some truly terrible towns and some truly amazing towns (in regards to things like, drug use, homelessness, crime etc) and people bitch about the same amount in both places.
Furthermore, about housing prices - my old boss bought a house in 1992 for $250,000 and sold it last year for $950,000, the housing price problem is not unique to Vancouver, although it can be worse there, we all suffer it here as well.
I am moving to BC (Richmond) simply because if I am going to be broke and underpaid
Um … its really terrible here.
Um … its really terrible here.
Trade me places then. Lol.
Values are personal. I don't live or work or spend much time in the City (of Vancouver) and I try to avoid it going in as much as I can. I don't give a rat's ass (sorry, Rat) about restaurants, brew pubs, entertainment, concerts, the social scene, culture, how easy or hard it is to get laid, how good the shopping is, or which neighborhoods are cool, which are not. I enjoy proximity to the forests, mountains, lakes and the ocean, I like being able to bike 12 months of the year. Until "they" take that away (and I move), I think I will just sit back and take it all in myself.
If you were put in a position of someone taking that "away" from you, your choice would be to leave?
How is this a viable solution? Because it seems to be what the majority of people are doing, losing their bit of "that" and leaving.
Second, and very important point. I don't think anyone is trying to argue that Vancouver isn't a great place to live. There is a long list of great things about it.
Because its a great place to live is why these discussions are happening. How do we continue to grow this city, sustainably, inclusively, and in a progressive way?
The path we have chosen is none of the above, and will likely lead to a substantially worse place to live for generations to come.
absentee ownership gets a lot of press lately but really the big driver is its a great city(and country) to immigrate to from pretty much anywhere in the world.
i agree that van being a great city in a great country is the reason people want to come here, but it's the lack of rules regarding foreign ownership that has allowed housing prices to get out of control. if foreign money wasn't able to get in here and buy up properties with no regard for price then the avg home price would still be reasonable. it very visible on the city's west side.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-03-24/canadian-housing-bubble-has-begun-burst
that's mainly an alberta thing. unfortunately, it won't affect vancouver enough to make a dent in our r/e prices.
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
that's mainly an alberta thing. unfortunately, it won't affect vancouver enough to make a dent in our r/e prices.
Agree the article is Alberta based, but I think it has merit in the statement that so goes the energy market, so goes Canada, to a certain degree. The oil impact will ripple out beyond Alberta's borders and affect manufacturing in Ontario as one example. Energy companies' cost cutting will impact the banking, retail, and manufacturing sectors for certain. While this likely won't affect foreign money coming in (it may exacerbate it with a lower loonie), it will affect domestic demand eventually, IMO.
:canada: :england:
If you were put in a position of someone taking that "away" from you, your choice would be to leave?
How is this a viable solution? Because it seems to be what the majority of people are doing, losing their bit of "that" and leaving.
What's the point of sticking around, resentful, bitter and angry about your life? Life is too short for that. People pull up roots and move to greener pastures all the time. It is the reason there are even human at all on this continent.
What's the point of sticking around, resentful, bitter and angry about your life? Life is too short for that. People pull up roots and move to greener pastures all the time. It is the reason there are even human at all on this continent.
I'll fight for something I believe in to a point. As do you.
I believe we shouldn't allow people from other countries to speculate on our housing market.
As some here have mentioned, if it really isn't that big of a deal, it should be a no-brainer to make it financially infeasible to hold properties empty in our communities.
What's the point of sticking around, resentful, bitter and angry about your life? Life is too short for that. People pull up roots and move to greener pastures all the time. It is the reason there are even human at all on this continent.
I think we're all here because we want to be.
I 'hate' Vancouver in a way thats only possible from simultaneously loving it.
I suspect thats the same for many of 'bitter' types.
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