Before this thread gets hijacked by st7860, I'll post my thoughts, which I wrote last night but forgot to post so appologies for any repeated points.
I'm very much in favour of finding ways to make the housing market more affordable (obviously), but I feel that a lot of the debate has been misdirected. Too much of the focus seems to be on single family homes (in the COV) and wanting to somehow bring those prices down to where townhomes are currently, or even lower. The way I see it, there are just too many factors preventing this from even remotely happening:
- The demand is very high. Whether it's from investors, foreign buyers, or (for the most part) local residents, SFHs continue to be very attractive. North Americans are just used to living that way, and most others come from places where that type of housing is not very common.
- The supply is not increasing - it's actually slowly decreasing. Obviously there is no more room for SFHs in Vancouver, and as the population continues to grow steadily, more will continue to be replaced by higher density housing types. The last few decades saw the majority of development in former industrial areas and other brownfield sites. Now that those are becoming scarce, development is beginning to creep into established neighbourhoods.
- The above is/will further be exacerbated by the continued slowing of SFH development in the suburbs. The only remaining cities building any substantial detached housing are Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Surrey, and Langley. But each of these are inching closer to the Urban Containment Boundary, and when they do, there will be no more room for expansion/sprawl.
I think some of the strongest evidence of this lies in the increasing disparity between attached and detached housing prices. For example, over the last number of years, condo prices have remained relatively flat, as construction has roughly kept pace with population growth. The number of people moving here has started to increase of late, and along with it new condo builds.
The two metros in Canada where there are significant legislated restrictions on outward growth are Vancouver and Toronto. These also happen to be the cities where you see the most stark appreciation of SFH prices, especially in relation to the other options.
When it comes to starting a new family and raising kids, I understand the desire for more space. I personally don't think though, that it requires a detached home. If most of the world, outside from Australia/NZ and North America, can make it work then I see no reason why we can't too. I see the need for a small societal shift where it is perfectly acceptable for a family to live in higher-density housing.
But that is one of the problems - we don't build enough of the right forms of housing for everyone. Too much emphasis is put on either condos or houses. I think we need to start massively increasing (potential) supply of townhomes, rowhomes, etc. in addition to condos/apartments.
So like I said, I think the people raising their voices (which is great) such as the #donthave1million cause, need to direct their attention further than mostly Single Family Homes. At this latest rally, I noticed more emphasis on making sure the government actually keeps track and provides real data on the market. It's a start.
Of course there are other factors, but this wasn't supposed to be an essay so I'll end it there. Just my point of view.