Vancouver's Housing Supply Myth

[whatnext]

The tired argument that all we need to do is build more housing is trotted out on SSP so frequently, it needs to be demolished in its own thread. Here's some actual research:

In Vancouver, the detached house owner is often vilified. So too, is the resident who protests density.

They are vilified by what one academic is calling "the housing supply myth," which is the belief that we need more housing in order to lower costs. It's an argument commonly used by politicians, industry, and some academics and citizen activists.

"There is an intuitive appeal to that argument," says Dr. John Rose, who spent the last year on education leave, researching the popular belief that Vancouver has a lack of housing supply. "We understand this idea of supply and demand, intuitively, even if you haven't taken an economics course."

However, he has concluded that Vancouver does not have a shortage of housing units. In fact, we have a surplus. And, as anybody in Metro Vancouver knows, prices have not plummeted as a result.

"If we are looking back at the last 15 to 20 years, we have been providing more than enough units of housing – and it's still unaffordable.

"And yet, you see this argument being thrown out there by various quarters, that we have this housing shortage."

Dr. Rose is an instructor in the department of geography and environment at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. He's been teaching there since 2002. He calls his report The Housing Supply Myth, based on data from the Statistics Canada censuses and the Demographia Survey House Price Data. He also looked at supply in housing markets elsewhere in Canada, the United States and Australia...

...In order to ensure his findings weren't just a blip, Dr. Rose went back to the 2001 census, covering a 15-year span. He found that for each household added during this period, the region added 1.19 net units of housing. Put another way, for every 100 households that came along, Metro Vancouver added 119 net units of housing. According to census data, there are also 66,719 unoccupied dwellings in Metro Vancouver...

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-est...ers-housing-supply-myth/article37015584/