Vancouver Real Estate 'Bubble' at 30-year Peak

[ssiguy]

Getting back on topic.........there is no way around the fact that Vancouver housing is completely detached from local incomes and it is very unhealthy. This is the primary reason why BC is Canada's only shrinking province. It's not that the place has gone to hell all of a sudden or that people are dying to live in Alberta but simply the fact Vancouver is not tenable for anyone who is not of high income or didn't choose the right parents.

This is nothing but bad news for Vancouver mid/long term economic outlook. It's not just the people moving away but rather the demographic and they are overwhelmingly young and usually highly skilled. These are the exact kind of workers BC can't afford to lose. People don't go to university for 5 years for the utter joy of maybe being able to get a basement apt and in 10 years of heavy savings, buy a shoebox 45 minutes from your workplace. I have a degree in Sociology and the term is "deferred gratification". It's the concept that you forego money/time now for a better return tomorrow and the obvious example is education. Young people aren't willing to spend so much time and money on their post-secondary and come out on the other end with a low standard of living.

If Vancouver wants to get back to being a livable city, the first thing it needs is for people to be able to afford to live here.