City of Vancouver looking at whether vacant homes are driving up prices

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Have you been searching for a home in Vancouver that won’t drain your bank account?

The city wants to find out if vacant apartments and houses are driving up prices, and it may need your help. It’s looking at creating a website where you could report empty homes.

There apparently isn’t much research or data on this, and Councillor Kerry Jang says the city wants a clear picture.

The city is working with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, sharing information and developing some of the methodology to collect information.

“One of the primary pieces, of course, is looking at BC Hydro usage rates to see whether or not the home is actually occupied,” says Jang.

He adds the city has a call out for a consultant who can get the process underway.

Jang says if it shows vacant homes are playing a role in driving prices up and keeping rental supply down, the city would turn to other levels of government for solutions.

“It’s only the provincial and federal government that have the actual tools in which to actually take care of some of these issues,” he explains.

Other parts of the world have tried things like extra levies for foreign owners.

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