Vancouver has an annual average income of around $70,000. At current benchmark prices of ~$1mm, we're paying 14x our average salaries for homes. That's roughly as unaffordable as Hong Kong — the world's most unaffordable housing market.
Whether or not zoning and high density would bring housing prices down (it almost certainly would), you gotta ask: if Vancouverites can't afford these places right now, who can? People who have a lot of money.
A government passes a law limiting the number of cars that can be sold. Manufacturers switch to exclusively luxury cars as they have much higher margins. Rich people buy them because they can afford them and need them. Everyone gets mad at the manufacturers and the rich people instead of the idiotic legislation. If we killed zoning laws, allowed modular housing and dorm housing, rents would drop very quickly.
Yeah, it's hard to get this across to people who live in a city where it feels like supply is increasing fast (because it's in huge, highly visible towers), but as a percentage of the total stock, is growing quite slowly.
I lived in Vancouver for a while, and though people were totally on board with the idea that increases in demand for housing would push up prices, they were highly skeptical of the idea that increased supply could decrease prices.
What was the latest data on citizenship of home purchases in Vancouver? 10% foreign, 90% Canadian. And almost 30% of those Canadian purchasers were speculators.
Are the Chinese causing home prices to go up in Vancouver? Probably a little. The much bigger problem are the Canadians over extending themselves by speculating on home values.
Whether or not zoning and high density would bring housing prices down (it almost certainly would), you gotta ask: if Vancouverites can't afford these places right now, who can? People who have a lot of money.
http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/mortgages...