Who is buying property in Vancouver? Analysis | CBC Vancouver

Last month, Statistics Canada put out a new report highlighting some data behind who is buying properties and what they are being used for. One big takeaway is that investors are snapping up most of the new properties in the Vancouver area. We wanted to break down the numbers and figure out what it all means. Lien Yeung took her questions to the source.

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[oneobjective]

The professor at the end is so refreshing. No nonsense or sugar coating. He knows it's an unfair and rigged game

[caliente]

For younger people it's like entering a game of monopoly when the other players already own most of the properties.

[alexsteven.m]

Great video! For 2023, it’s hard to nail down specific predictions for the housing market is because it’s not yet clear how quickly or how much the Federal Reserve can bring down inflation and borrowing costs without tanking buyer demand for everything from homes to cars.

[afg]

Been saying for years that any proprties purchased which are not primary living spaces for the buyer should require a 75% down payment at least for the second home. Anything more than 2 homes you need to buy outright. This should resolve the issue of people using equity to buy homes as investment properties. Also anyone who owns multiple homes shoulf be taxed like crazy on the rental earnings. Everything we've done in canada has led to a culture of greed

[thepaintedlady]

Great job CBC, keep reporting on this! Nothing changes unless we keep ramping up the pressure on on all levels of government.

[test]

Interesting but lack comparison between population growth and housing availability rate.

[harshangill]

Canadas economy relies too much on housing. Diversifying the economy and making other forms of investment more attractive such as businesses, is the only way to fix the problem.

[johnnyboyvan]

50 percent of investments is frightening 😮. Home equity is very dangerous now to use for those types of places.

[Berlin-Kladow]

After 20 years of this Vancouver housing crisis, why is this the only data you have ? And then they need more years to collect the really important data ? It’s deliberate to obfuscate and deflect so that no reforms can be made and to keep government coffers filled with taxes collected from RE

[arethereanyuniquehandles]

Vancouver is crazy, ratio of 10 income/property value versus Toronto of 6, shows how unaffordable the Vancouver market is. Problem is the foreign money continues to push up values in Vancouver and likely won't abate. Just means the regular folks can't afford to buy.

[truthseeker]

I was born in Vancouver, I now live in Alberta and work for the government working in housing and I see stats. People from BC and Ontario are buying up the real estate in Alberta now. Calgary's rental vacancy rate is so low and let me you tell how many of these rentals are investment properties.... I suspect the next Canadian cities to go up in price will be Calgary (already there basically), Edmonton and Montreal. Mass immigration is too much for the available rental inventory.

[nopeninja]

So shocked... oh wait not. It's the rich just getting richer.

[john_doe_not_found]

Housing should be like a utility, equal access for all. When multi millionaire investors are able to bid up prices beyond what the people who actually live in an area can afford, and then charge high rent because they paid an outrageous price, it creates a road block to life.
Maybe there should be curbs on how much residential property someone can own. Let the millionaires and hedge funds and pension plans invest in commercial, but leave residential out of it. The median income in Canada is $39, 500. Half the country makes less, the other half makes more. If $39.5k/yr is the median income, it makes no sense for the average home price to be $700, 000. That is the 1% wealthy investors causing hardship to the rest of the country. We see this today with late marriages and a crashing birthrate. The single biggest expense most Canadians have is their homes, and the wealthy are putting the screws to the rest and destroying the future of the country for personal gains.

[Spirit_Bear]

Seems like they were afraid to discuss foreign investors using loopholes to circumvent the ban on foreign investment.

[Lumpology]

this was a really good piece! I love that first we got raw data from an expert in that field, then we got some proper analysis from an expert in their field, really nice to see!

[KaleighMacKay]

Companies shouldn’t be allowed to buy homes. Houses are for living in, not to be items on asset sheets. How the f is this being allowed. No wonder why buying a home and rental rates are so high.

[BigBlueLobster]

This is the fundemental issue: we amass data by the bucket, the analysis of which can't be discussed by public policy makers. Why? How can the public understand and participate fully in society if they are not fully informed by those who gather the data and make the decisions?

[stevenaudet]

It's not the supply of appartements and condos that is the problem. It's that they are build to be more and more luxurious instead of affordable. How the **** are you guys missing the point that bad!?

[robertcartwright]

I wish this piece went into why increasing supply has not moderated the increase in housing costs. At 6:50 prof. Condon accepts the principle that increasing supply should put downward pressure on prices, but his overall message is that that doesn't work, citing Vancouver's experience over the recent decades as proof. This needs to be sorted out for us, because as it stands, I don't see why he isn't wrong. It looks to me like it is a supply issue, that while a lot of housing has been built, it just hasn't been nearly enough to accommodate our increase in population. If going gangbusters on supply won't halt the inflation of housing costs, that needs to be explained. The longer term project, of returning housing costs to an acceptable fraction of ordinary people's incomes, I think will require more than a better supply/demand ratio. I think that will require somebody's ox be gored. I vote it be the banker's.

[phoenixman]

Around 2010 prices were indeed going up but only in small increments, then in 2015 the bubble burst, and homes that were 250, 000.00 went to 350, 000.00 then later 500, 000.00 and soon 600, 700, 800, and even a million, insane!!!! Even with the bit of money my late father left me, i cannot even afford an older fixer-up mobile home on Vancouver island..