The real problem with Vancouver’s outrageous house prices

[djmk]

Originally Posted by Pinion

I'm not shifting blame, I've made decisions based on the circumstances and only post these things to let people know that BC/Canada's ineptitude has a real effect on real people.

You blaming the gov't for you not procreating because of their "corruption and/or incompetence" is the silliest thing I have ever read on these boards.

The birth rate of Niger is 7.5 births per woman btw

[Pinion]

Nah, your inability to grasp that it's not about "procreating" is pretty dumb though.

Any idiot can have a baby, I am talking about quality of life for children born in Vancouver today - a quality of life that has plummeted in the last 15 years due to our government.

If Niger is our standard though I guess everything's fine.

[djmk]

I have kids. I know what I'm talking about.

Your choice not to have kids has nothing to do with the government.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by djmk

I have kids. I know what I'm talking about.

Your choice not to have kids has nothing to do with the government.

Agreed. People who think raising kids to a high standard requires a lot of money are delusional. The reality is that raising kids isn't much more expensive than not doing so.

You simply reallocate the money you spend on avocado toast. Especially if it's only 1 or 2 kids. That's a joke, by the way.

Anyhow, blaming the government for choosing not start a family is silly. Anyone with kids will tell you that. If they don't, they're probably one of those parents that spend all their time working thinking they're doing it for their kids, when essentially they don't ever get to know what the kids really need or want.

Anecdotal story time: A co-worker had her kids ask her if she could work part time. She was a successful DBA who worked full-time. She said... "If I don't go to work, we'll have to go down to 1 income and you can't have your soccer lessons, and ballet lessons." The response from the kids... "That's okay, we'll get to spend more time with you, then." After telling me this, she said to me: "Today was the hardest day ever to come into work."

Kids don't require a lot of money and stuff and things. They thrive the best on time. And no... "quality time" isn't a replacement for "quantity of time"

Pinion, you've been around for a long while so you get a pass on this one... but raising a family is more than just providing for one.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

...Anecdotal story time: A co-worker had her kids ask her if she could work part time. She was a successful DBA who worked full-time. She said... "If I don't go to work, we'll have to go down to 1 income and you can't have your soccer lessons, and ballet lessons." The response from the kids... "That's okay, we'll get to spend more time with you, then." After telling me this, she said to me: "Today was the hardest day ever to come into work."...

And...what did she decide to do?

What the stats (and portions of the article behind the paywall point out) is that Vancouver is in danger of being a place where young people come to when they first enter the job market and party, but as they look to settle down and start families they begin to leave. What are your choices with 2 kids, try to make a 2 bedroom condo in the city work (with an entry price around $800k now) or move way out to the suburbs. I know the obvious retort will be something about building the "missing middle", but in absence of managing demand, those units will be just as overpriced as everything else.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by twoNeurons

Pinion, you've been around for a long while so you get a pass on this one... but raising a family is more than just providing for one.

That's my whole point? People are working themselves to death to rent a one bedroom apartment here.

And to make it clear I CHOSE to not have kids. But I know lots of people who would like to have a family and can't reasonably afford it in this city. There are so many people hanging on by a thread.

I'm also in a much better financial situation than just about everyone thanks to this stupid real estate bubble and some wise/lucky decisions from my family, so those who are acting like this is all about me whining about being poor should probably rethink that. Have some compassion for regular people. (not you twoneurons)

[GenWhy?]

Just saw this thread and after coming out of a few meetings today on some sites to redevelop... I'm again frustrated with parking minimums on rezonings for market rental, affordable rental, or even under schemes such as the Rental 100 program. We could have a lot more less expensive rental stock if parking minimums caught up to modern times and reflected current and future trends. Fighting 0.6 stalls per unit on small sites forcing the need for either no affordable rental (selling or holding the land for another decade) or even to build condos to justify parkade costs, is not helping the current City's affordability trend.

[Bcasey25raptor]

if things don't change I can see the exodus of younger and middle aged workers from he city accelerating over the next few years.

I honestly think at this rate even the incoming immigration levels won't be enough to keep the city growing in such a way I can see the 2021 census showing metro vancouver's population either stagnant or even shrinking.

The 2016 census wouldn't show much since the crisis didn't reach panic levels until 2016 and most people who lived here in 2011 when prices for condos and apartments were affordable (they aren't now) still live here. As these numbers continue to increase and more and more people leave, the city will suffer a decline completely if it's own making.

Frankly, depressingly, Toronto isn't far behind and I can see Toronto also reaching this decline just a few years later.

It's criminal whats been allowed to happen to Vancouver and Toronto. The cities are ruined and the quality of life for the residents has been outright destroyed.

[dreambrother808]

Rising rent is the nail in the coffin here. Previously, buying was out of reach but many justified potentially renting for the rest of their lives. The proportion of income now necessary for skyrocketing rents is pushing more and more people away. It’s already past the point of no return with that probably as well. Average 1-beds at $1900 is ridiculous and there don’t appear to be any precedents for rents decreasing in this city. Too late...

Vision doesn’t have a hope in hell of winning the next election. The affordability protest vote will kick them out. I don’t think the NPA will have any solutions though. It’s the same hopeless situation we are living out provincially where neither of the major parties can or will do what is necessary. The provincial government’s complacency is the bigger underlying problem though.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Rising rent is the nail in the coffin here. Previously, buying was out of reach but many justified potentially renting for the rest of their lives. The proportion of income now necessary for skyrocketing rents is pushing more and more people away. It’s already past the point of no return with that probably as well. Average 1-beds at $1900 is ridiculous and there don’t appear to be any precedents for rents decreasing in this city. Too late...

Vision doesn’t have a hope in hell of winning the next election. The affordability protest vote will kick them out. I don’t think the NPA will have any solutions though. It’s the same hopeless situation we are living out provincially where neither of the major parties can or will do what is necessary. The provincial government’s complacency is the bigger underlying problem though.

I place the main blame on the federal and provincial governments who have sold out Vancouver for easy profit and a shortsighted addiction to property transfer taxes.

Now it's too late, Vancouver is ruined.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Just saw this thread and after coming out of a few meetings today on some sites to redevelop... I'm again frustrated with parking minimums on rezonings for market rental, affordable rental, or even under schemes such as the Rental 100 program. We could have a lot more less expensive rental stock if parking minimums caught up to modern times and reflected current and future trends. Fighting 0.6 stalls per unit on small sites forcing the need for either no affordable rental (selling or holding the land for another decade) or even to build condos to justify parkade costs, is not helping the current City's affordability trend.

How does making it much harder for people to drive make anything more affordable? Developers really pass those savings on?

[Tetsuo]

^^^ Restricting parking will just offload the costs of parking onto the city to developers' benefit

ron,

[szechuansean]

https://www.biv.com/article/2017/10/...ouver-prices-/

Out-of-town homebuyers have driven Vancouver prices up 5-10%: UBC study

It goes on to say "For the purposes of the new study, the authors assumed 10% of homes in Vancouver are purchased by out-of-towners, but this was just an estimate, the authors said, as there isn’t any concrete data available."

Fake news. Fake study.

[csbvan]

This is how pathetic Vancouver has become. How can people defend this city anymore?

Vacant Shaughnessy mansion was set ablaze, officials say.

Investigators believe the fire that severely damaged an unoccupied, century-old Shaughnessy mansion over the weekend was deliberately set....

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/vacant-s...-say-1.3645615

[a very long weekend]

^ pretty easy for squatters/teen partiers to burn these places down when the neighborhoods get empty year after year. you have at least 25,000 empty homes in vancouver, more every year.

one imagines that if there's ever any significant deflation in the housing market. the city might see a wave of fires in these neighborhoods, as the speculators face multi-million dollar losses and opt instead to go the insurance fraud route.

[Spork]

Do squatters or teens deliberately burn buildings down? Both of those scenarios would seem accidental.

[a very long weekend]

no, accidental for sure, unless you've got an exceptional individual/group who decide to go nuts. but when you have 25,000 empty homes, even it only 10% get squatted/partied in by delinquents, and only 1% of those get badly fire damaged, you have . . . ~25 "homes" per year burning, like is happening actually. the more absentee the homeowner, the more likely the squat/teenager party, the higher the numbers go.

point is that having so many empty homes, surely the most per capita/km in canada, is actually hazardous.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by csbvan

This is how pathetic Vancouver has become. How can people defend this city anymore?



http://bc.ctvnews.ca/mobile/vacant-s...-say-1.3645615

Well, don't feel too bad for the owner. Miaofei Pan apparently owns at least three Vancouver houses, so he has a couple of spares. And look on the bright side for him, this house which was protected under new heritage bylaws and wasn't selling despite being on the market a while for @ $14 mil. Now they're totally free to build something new.

[Marshal]

So, how can anyone defend this city any longer? Why shit, the same way people have been defending Manhattan for decades. Because its a great place.

There is so much work to be done fixing many issues in Vancouver. So, we work at it. It will never end, but we will work at it anyway.

In my work I have negotiated parking requirements on a number of projects, sometimes with success, but I am cautious with the simplistic predictions of where our society is heading with regard to cars. It has become accepted wisdom that the future will need less room for cars - less road space, less parking. This is possible, but is far from a certainty. Humans love cars, and why wouldn't they: mobility, freedom, comfort . . . . I don't see this changing, not even by driver-less cars (though I wouldn't bet against a big role for them) A good prediction may be that we are going to see more cars than ever before; probably smaller, and definitely electric or better propulsion. Our parking needs are not well determined at this point in time. We need caution.

[logicbomb]

Heritage home gets burned down. One that didn't hold max real estate value due to protection status....Fire deemed to be suspecious...

And people jump to the conclusion that teens or squatters burned it down. Cmon now...