The Decline of Vancouver.

For sure lack of supply cause by Vancouver's natural geography is probably the first most important factor leading to expensive real estate - we have mountains to the north, water to the west, the US border not too far south, and then on top of that we have a bunch of waterways throughout all of the available land making it more difficult to travel from one area to another (i.e. bridges = bottlenecks). This causes most people to want to live in a small area - now inject tons of super rich foreigners into Vancouver and you get a lot of people with a lot of money wanting to live in a relatively small area.

IMO I think the ideal solution is to basically knock down all the detached houses on the "west side" and replace them with a bunch of higher density housing (townhouses and low/mid rise condos). Obviously this isn't too realistic but I think over an extended period of time (like 30 years) this will be the natural evolution. It's already starting to happen slowly but surely on Oak/Cambie/Main/Granville/etc.

So, consider this idea and the NIMBY's in Kerrisdale/Shaunessy/Point Grey etc. that want no change to the fact that it is zone for [HTML_REMOVED]80% SFH. These are the folks that bought back in the day and don't want it to change RE: density. Are these not the people deserving of blame as much as the off-shore $$ driving the westside SFH prices (and pulling the CoV's average way high) ?

I'm sorry, but the train has left the station on SFH near the city centre. It's not a reality for anything but lifestyles of the rich [HTML_REMOVED] famous so why defend it? Too many people wanting too little space. City staff should only allow SFH tear-downs on the westside that are leading to 4plex or greater density as the replacement.

I'd still like someone to explain to me why they think letting anyone on the planet use our housing stock for speculative purposes benefits those who live here.

I'd still like someone to explain to me why they think letting anyone on the planet use our housing stock for speculative purposes benefits those who live here.

Capitalism is a bitch bro.

Capitalism is a bitch bro.

Shouldn't that be in white, big-block text on a picture?

Jennifer Fox: Goodbye Vancouver, you should go and love yourself
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2016/03/28/jennifer-fox-goodbye-vancouver-you-should-go-and-love-yourself/

32% of Vancouver singles are living in poverty? WTF!?

Shouldn't that be in white, big-block text on a picture?

That, or a t-shirt.

I'd still like someone to explain to me why they think letting anyone on the planet use our housing stock for speculative purposes benefits those who live here.

It certainly benefits the people that already own houses.

only if you leave

For sure lack of supply cause by Vancouver's natural geography is probably the first most important factor leading to expensive real estate - we have mountains to the north, water to the west, the US border not too far south, and then on top of that we have a bunch of waterways throughout all of the available land making it more difficult to travel from one area to another (i.e. bridges = bottlenecks). This causes most people to want to live in a small area - now inject tons of super rich foreigners into Vancouver and you get a lot of people with a lot of money wanting to live in a relatively small area.

:lol:

They're building condo towers at 3x the population increase rate yet they all sell before they're built.

Natural geography :lol: They could build 4 towers on every block and they'd all sell because it's an unregulated free for all. It's probably longterm political suicide for Christy and Gregor but they're making millions out of it so I doubt they give a fuck. In fact I bet Gregor is lining up a Chinese diplomat position within the Libs. The twat Trudeau thinks he's great and they both love the corrupt dictatorship of superficial scum.

:lol:

In fact I bet Gregor is lining up a Chinese diplomat position within the Libs. .

He's already fucking a Chinese government agent, eh?

Find someone you know who already has a place, and do this:

BOX

This one is a long, but worth the read. Some gems:

“I feel like we’re in that movie The Andromeda Strain?,” he says, “where everybody has died from a mystery virus, and we’re the only survivors.”

"In Dunbar, a small non-descript house on West 22nd Avenue sold for $2.6 million and was flipped eight months later for $1 million more."

"Since the 1980s, he estimates that more than 200,000 Asian immigrants have come to Vancouver through federal-based investor programs. An internal-use-only study from 2012 conducted by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (and unearthed by South China Morning Post reporter Ian Young) showed that after five years in Canada, only 39 percent of program applicants reported any income earnings. Those who did report annual income showed an average of $21,000 at the five-year mark. After fifteen years here, the figure climbed slightly, to $25,000. Refugees, the study showed, averaged $30,000 in earnings after fifteen years—more than people who came to Canada as “investors.”"

"Ogden had helped her client move $500,000 (US) through friends and family, who sent ten wire transfers of $50,000 (US) into ten cibc accounts—money used as the down payment on a $5.7 million Vancouver mansion."

"“Now it’s a financial-services and retirement-support and construction economy, and I think that’s okay. I think we should recognize that’s a natural transformation, driven by immigration and the fact that our corner of the planet is a beautiful, stable place with very little corruption.”"

thats a pretty good artical^^ my buddy in banking has been regaling me with those very same money laundering tales for [HTML_REMOVED]10 years so its been common knowledge in the big 5 banks

Ironicaly its been great for this persons career and they are making some big coin from chasing down chinese money launderers … the hot market is good for everyone ;)

also google hawala banking

Find someone you know who already has a place, and do this:

BOX

that's awesome. riffing off this idea, i could build a battery of these in my garage (a la the japanese coffin hotel concept). stuff in about 20, and watch the $$ flow in…