Quote:
Originally Posted by Changing City
It's never straightforward to compare one city with another when they're in different countries. While there are obvious similarities between Melbourne and Vancouver, it has double the population in an area almost four times larger, so has half the population density. That has a significant impact on how easy it is to build more housing. Many of the renters wish there were rent controls, as affordability has apparently become a significant problem in the recent past. |
In my defense, I didn't ask for the comparison. All I have to say is there's really nothing making it hard to build housing in Metro Vancouver other than government intervention. There's alway going to be rent-seekers who want price controls to make their lives easier at the expense of others, but that doesn't change the fact it's bad policy.
As an aside, it's funny how in the article one of the stats given is how the median house rent has gone as high as $430 per week.
So, if we do the math, average of 52 / 12 = 4.33 weeks per month, $430 * 4.33 = $1862 a month.
Hm, seems similar to Vancouver, right? Wrong. That's
house rent. For an entire house in Melbourne. But wait, that's in AUD!
Current exchange rate is 0.88 CAD/AUD -> 1862 * 0.88 = $1638 per month for a house in Melbourne. We could only dream of such prices.