The real problem with Vancouver’s outrageous house prices

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Vin

You know why Vancouver is what it is now?

As according to Bob Rennie, voicing out about what more people are starting to say:
http://vancouversun.com/business/rea...uru-bob-rennie

Bob Rennie will say anything to make locals feel guilty about wanting to slow foreign cash coming in because he benefits from it more than anyone in Vancouver. It wouldn't surprise me if these investors and their companies' pay him to make these publicity stunts in order to keep the misinformation flowing.

Please check out and sign this petition at The Parliament of Canada: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Peti...Petition=e-281

[Vin]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Bob Rennie will say anything to make locals feel guilty about wanting to slow foreign cash coming in because he benefits from it more than anyone in Vancouver. It wouldn't surprise me if these investors and their companies' pay him to make these publicity stunts in order to keep the misinformation flowing.

Please check out and sign this petition at The Parliament of Canada: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Peti...Petition=e-281

I don't see how blaming the foreign investors will help curb the problem. At least Rennie has no qualms about putting a hefty fine on people who flip properties to help discourage housing speculations.

The petition is a good step forward to push the Feds to take actions.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Bob Rennie will say anything to make locals feel guilty about wanting to slow foreign cash coming in because he benefits from it more than anyone in Vancouver. It wouldn't surprise me if these investors and their companies' pay him to make these publicity stunts in order to keep the misinformation flowing.

Please check out and sign this petition at The Parliament of Canada: https://petitions.parl.gc.ca/en/Peti...Petition=e-281

Yeah, does anybody really expect the King Condo Pimp to say anything else?

If you read between the lines of what he says its basically "We're selling the most desirable areas, close to employment, off to the Chinese, everyone else should just settle for some horrendous transit commute". Thanks Bob, go back to your pretty pictures.

[csbvan]

Bob Rennie, the chief fundraiser for the political party that continues to refuse to do anything about transit, comes out saying that the problem in Vancouver is not prices, but lack of transit. This makes my head spin. Bob Rennie has been silent for quite a while as the media storm over real estate has grown into a hurricane. He should remain silent.

[WarrenC12]

^^^^

Yes it's important to remember Bob Rennie is the chair of fundraising for the BC Liberals. It's obvious where his motivations lie.

[scryer]

I think that both what Bob Rennie said in the article and the Chinese investors are part of the recipe that leads to this level of housing un-affordability. I'm sure that there are other factors as well such as height limitations

[whatnext]

It may be further proof of what people struggling to make ends meet in this region are feeling. A new survey finds four out of 10 people who identify as Generation X (aged 34 to 54) admit they’re looking to sell their home in Metro Vancouver and move somewhere else more affordable.

That’s what those who responded to this poll by Insights West for Resonance Consultancy, a global real estate, tourism and economic development advising firm are saying about the local market.

“Potentially losing 40 per cent of the management age population in the city of Vancouver could have serious implications for the future of Vancouver’s economy,” warns Chris Fair, president of Resonance Consultancy. “Even if half of that divestment is re-allocated to more affordable housing in the Lower Mainland, there is the threat of thousands of middle managers and senior leaders leaving local companies already struggling with finding staff.”

He adds more than one quarter of local boomers are looking to cash out of Vancouver. “But it’s the fact that two-in-five Vancouverites in their peak earning years are planning to do so that really surprised us,” says Fair.

And it’s not a rough plan exclusive to those aged 35-54. Millennials, the generation in the 18 to 34 range, share a similar philosophy. Thirty-five per cent of them, perhaps unsurprisingly given the cost of living here, are looking to put up the for-sale sign, cash out, and head somewhere cheaper...

http://www.news1130.com/2017/01/12/g...ll-home-leave/

[Caliplanner1]

Originally Posted by scryer

I think that both what Bob Rennie said in the article and the Chinese investors are part of the recipe that leads to this level of housing un-affordability. I'm sure that there are other factors as well such as height limitations

Could one also throw in the potential positive impact of regional Skytrain development to Langley as well as opening up the lower parts of the Sunshine coast to housing/urban development via a direct highway link to the Horse Bay/Vancouver area?

[whatnext]

It's not just people considering leaving due to outrageous property values it's businesses. We're hollowing out our city just to give foreign investors a chance to compete for a place to park their cash.

Niels Bendtsen is one of Vancouver’s longest-standing design and manufacturing success stories. He has been designing and making furniture in Vancouver since 1963 and his Ribbon Chair sits in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. But a recent eye-popping property tax assessment has Mr. Bendtsen considering if he should relocate his business to another city....

Mr. Bendtsen owns warehouse, manufacturing and office space in Railtown, which is part of the Downtown Eastside. The rundown area near the city’s industrial waterfront had long been ignored...

....Mr. Bendtsen’s property at 405 Railway was just assessed at $14.512-million, up from $5.751-million last year. In 2016, he paid $68,852 in taxes. Based on the 2017 value, his taxes will be an estimated $175,000.

Mr. Bendtsen says it’s unfair to penalize small and mid-size businesses that bring manufacturing jobs to the city. He has 75 employees in Railtown; however, he is considering a move to Toronto, where commercial properties are much cheaper.

“[The city] says they want this type of business down there, and yet they are taxing us out of there,”

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle33672975/

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Mr. Bendtsen says it’s unfair to penalize small and mid-size businesses that bring manufacturing jobs to the city. He has 75 employees in Railtown; however, he is considering a move to Toronto, where commercial properties are much cheaper.

Hahahahaha what??

[s211]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Hahahahaha what??

Well, I understand industrial rents to be lower in the GTA.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by s211

Well, I understand industrial rents to be lower in the GTA.

Sure, an industrial box in the 905 is less, but this guy has commercial space in Railtown. If he wants something comparable in Toronto he is likely going to pay MORE not less, not to mention higher taxes and wages.

[Metro-One]

Yeah, maybe this dude should try a move to one of the suburbs in Van first. Seems like a much easier and less risky move to achieve the same outcomes.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Yeah, maybe this dude should try a move to one of the suburbs in Van first. Seems like a much easier and less risky move to achieve the same outcomes.

Sure lets have all the real businesses move to the suburbs. We just can't have too many coffee shops or pretentious hipster craft beer places in the city.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Sure lets have all the real businesses move to the suburbs. We just can't have too many coffee shops or pretentious hipster craft beer places in the city.

You kind of missed the point. The guy is threatening to move to Toronto, but he can't accomplish running the same business he has in downtown Van in Toronto without setting up far in the suburbs of Toronto. So, if that is his wish, then it makes more sense to just set up in the suburbs of Vancouver.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Vancouver is in decline, saw this coming years ago, people are fleeing and businesses are closing up, this city is turning into an empty overpriced overseas bank account for rich chinese communist party insiders.

Something needs to change NOW, not next year, NOW or this city will die.

[Caliplanner1]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

Vancouver is in decline, saw this coming years ago, people are fleeing and businesses are closing up, this city is turning into an empty overpriced overseas bank account for rich chinese communist party insiders.

Something needs to change NOW, not next year, NOW or this city will die.

Oh the self destructive ironies /contradictions of untethered/unregulated capitalism.....

[SFUVancouver]

"Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded."

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

"Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded."

Haha honestly.

Vancouver just saw it's best year of job growth in decades and everyone is declaring the city dead...

It defies logic. I guess it's an alternative fact?

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by Caliplanner1

Oh the self destructive ironies /contradictions of untethered/unregulated capitalism.....

Unregulated capitalism, where the central planners have deemed that 81% of the city should be off-limits to residential redevelopment, and much of the remaining 19% is already built to the arbitrary density cap (ie. maximum quota on homes) set by the planners.

As LeftCoaster pointed out, a rapidly growing population + record job growth are rather interesting symptoms of "self destruction".

Oh and here's a quote from the report, which hammered this point many times: "Without exception, severely unaffordable markets have severe land use restrictions."