VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – It’s just a bit more affordable to buy a home here, but still more expensive than anywhere else in the country.
The latest affordability report by RBC finds Vancouver is slightly more affordable; prices are down as are resales.
But Tsur Somerville at UBC’s Sauder School of Business says first-time buyers are still having a tough time.
“Fundamentally, unlike other areas of the country, the first-time home buyers here have to go to condos and townhouses.”
Though report finds an improvement for the second straight quarter in BC, Somerville thinks we’re still far from seeing a less stressful market.
“Anything that helps is a good thing, but I don’t think we should somehow get in our minds all of a sudden that house prices and incomes here are going to match what they are in Saskatoon.”
It notes much of the cooling that took place in BC is related to the market in the Vancouver area.
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If citizenship requirements weren’t an issue, I’d be off to San Antonio, TX. Beautiful city. 3000 sqft houses around $265k. No state income tax.
Take your pick, anywhere down south (except San Francisco) would be better than here – price-wise. I’m thinking it’s looking better to invest down south and have a place to retire, than to be saddled in debt til you’re dead (no hope of paying off the place before retirement)
Renting and saving money towards real estate down south is getting more tempting day after day.
I’m one step ahead of you. I just purchased a new 4 bedroom home with quarter an acre in the suburbs outside of Dallas, It’s so beautiful there. Close to everything! Cost? Get ready.. $230,000 !! Better than any dump here in the metro area. After extensive research, this is the prime place to live and raise a family. To get the same here I would pay $800,000 or so. This is my ‘F’ you to BC and their garbage government and scam system and gouging etc… All you losers who don’t fight for change, I hope you enjoy living and suffering in BC. I fought for 15 years to make it better watching as lazy people did nothing. now I sold my home and heading south with a nice nest egg and a decent job waiting. It’s not hard to do, anyone can do it if you have the time, research and smarts. Our immigration to the USA was approved rather smoothly!! I welcome any of my BC neighbors to come on down! You will see the world DOES NOT rotate around BC.
Between the bankers and CMHC loaning money to anybody that’s breathing, then there’s the shyster real estate agents ,add in the greedy developers, the dishonest marketers like MAC Marketing and that Cam Good guy (flying make-believe Asians around in helicopters) , real estate pumpers like Cameron Muir and that UBC guy Tsur Somerville and you have a market that’s totally loaded against the buyer. What other big industry does Vancouver have? Nothing but real estate. It’s pathetic.
there is a big industry in BC which is called marijuana. the gang war going on is a just tip of the iceberg. we need strong enforcement to win over this drug war. the law enforcer are merely reactive to the escalation of drug use of marijuana. They are helpless to the sophistication of evolving gang tactics.
The real answer to lowering the prices its to impose a tax on foreign investment and to remove the real estate licenses of fraudsters like MAC marketing.
Really homes in BC should be for the people that live and work here and contribute not investors looking to suck money out of the province
I got tired of waiting and complaining about BC home prices, so I just moved to another province. I have a next to nothing mortgage and a view of the water. It’s not BC, but there’s space to breathe and I didn’t have to come up with $500K for a down payment.
I hate this report trying to sugar coat of what is seemingly a blatant insult to the intelligence of ordinary folks. Vancouver is 2nd to Hong Kong in terms of real estate prices. We can understand HK due to their land size area compared with the population. Here in Vancouver, the high prices of real estate are rigged by humans, we have such huge land areas where we can develop more housing units, why do we have such a ridiculous house prices here ? It is the greed of gov’t officials whose appetite for more taxes is never enough for them. if we extend the skytrain to be accessible to as far as langley, chilliwack, you will realize how real estate prices will drop dramtically. Time will pass when people will start thinking outside of the box. We have long been heralded into a corner and it is time for us to stand up and question.