BC, economy, opinion, prices, supply

Where’s the love Vancouver?

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96 Comments

This city has lost more than a thousand people a year in the 25-44 age group since 2012 and it’s not hard to guess why.

One of those people has an editorial in the Vancouver Sun:

Sure, I managed to pay rent on a 380-square-foot apartment and eat takeout sushi once in while, but I definitely haven’t saved for retirement or been able to afford to give birth yet. I’ve spent most of my 30s on the west coast (land of economic opportunities?) while I watched my friends on the east coast (with less education than me) buy four-bedroom houses and multiple cars.

Sure, they shovel snow, but they also run across the street to borrow sugar from the neighbours. They trade gardening tips with the elders living next door. Their children play in the backyard. They are happy and connected.

In Vancouver I’m lucky to get a hello in an elevator.

Read the full editorial here.

Are you in that 25-44 year old demographic and if so are you thinking of leaving or in love with the city and never gonna go?

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eric lam

i actually run a business that works with a lot of younger people our key demographic is 24-44. I speak with them all the time and most people don’t have troubles living in the city. Although it is expensive people will always learn to adapt and overcome. http://www.fobcouver.ca

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eric lam

i actually run a business that works with a lot of younger people our key demographic is 24-44. I speak with them all the time and most people don’t have troubles living in the city. Although it is expensive people will always learn to adapt and overcome.

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trackback

[…] in Kits –Not in a housing bubble yet –The ones who don’t move here –Cash bonuses […]

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southseacompany

“Club closure linked to housing prices: expert”, 24 Hours

http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2016/03/31/club-closure-linked-to-housing-prices-expert

“Social media has been flooded with posts the last couple of days mourning the loss of the Railway Club, an iconic downtown Vancouver music venue that announced on Tuesday it is closing.”

““People in their late 20s and early 30s appear to be moving out of the city because they can’t afford to live here,” said SFU real estate finance professor Andrey Pavlov. “So the customer base for many of those venues is disappearing.”

““Instead, we have investors and people who either don’t live here or are of a much different age group, and they just don’t support these types of venues.””

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realist

The Railway Club might seem to have little in common with the UBC Faculty Club (other than the designation “club”), but they share the same fate and for the same reason. UBC Faculty Club closed in 1994, a victim of changing demographics: by then, most UBC faculty no longer lived on or close to campus, so the club languished.

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southseacompany

Seems like we’re not alone;

“Global house prices: Hot in the city”, The Economist

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21695912-valuations-globalised-cities-are-rising-much-faster-their

“Valuations in globalised cities are rising much faster than in their hinterlands”

“GLOBALISATION has created a handful of metropolises that attract people, capital and ideas from all over the world, almost irrespective of how their national economy is doing. House prices in such places, unsurprisingly, outpace the national average.”

“The value of homes in four cities on the Pacific—San Francisco, Vancouver, Sydney and Shanghai—has increased by 12% a year over the past three years, twice the average national pace.”

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Combat roach

“…that attract people, capital and ideas from all over the world”

I am afraid it has nothing to do with Vancouver. All we attracted are speculative scumbags, money launderers, criminals and locusts from China. What people, ideas and capital they are talking about?

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Jon

I’m 34 and left ~2 years ago for Seattle. I miss Vancouver but despite a technical profession and above average salary, over the 8-10 years I was there I watched home prices float up faster than we could catch up to. Very few who aren’t endowed in one way or another by their parents can hope to buy a home and start a family in the city now.

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voter

It looks like the politicians aren’t going to do anything .Why would they want to go to the trouble of changing things when they can just take the money and run.The only chance to change whats happening is on election day , and lets hope its not too late.

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paulb

New
263
Sold
276
TI:8115

http://www.paulboenisch.com

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bullwhip29

no words…

Vancouver looks at becoming ‘sanctuary city’
http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=11821402

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Combat roach

They can just legalize all kinds of crimes so we can all be equal and enjoy our progressive society and “democracy”. For example me… I am good and nice person and affluent neighbour but like to forge my documents for fun and also make some money as a pimp and through donations from people that needs certain favours.

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bullwhip29

Hong Kong Retail Sales Plunge the Most in 17 Years
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-31/hong-kong-retail-sales-plunge-the-most-in-17-years

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bullwhip29

and cooler heads prevail…

China’s Anbang scraps bid for Starwood Hotels: source
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/us-business/chinas-anbang-scraps-bid-for-starwood-hotels-source/article29481264

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bullwhip29

or perhaps there is much more (or less in this case) to the story….????

Starwood Bidder Is a Reclusive Chinese Insurer With Opaque Backing
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/30/business/dealbook/china-anbang-starwood-wu-xiaohui.html

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Combat roach

Pure horror… And Canada yet managed to sold country to those criminals while prizing them as outstanding businessmen an “people of tomorrow”. On the second thought they actually cunningly managed to defeat and destroy a western country and NATO ally without a bullet being fired.

“Zhongya Huajin shares an official website address with a different Anbang shareholder, a Beijing real estate company. Collectively, those companies own nearly 4.6 billion shares of Anbang, or more than 7 percent. The companies could not be reached for comment, and their common website now contains only links to pornography and gambling services.”

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marble

Bear Stern and the Great Wall FT – brokerage Guosen defaults on dim sum yuan bond http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/31/reuters-america-update-1-unit-of-china-brokerage-guosen-defaults-on-dim-sum-yuan-bond–ft.html A unit of Guosen Securities, China’s eighth-largest investment bank, has defaulted on a Hong Kong-traded renminbi bond, according to a document seen by the Financial Times, marking the first debt breach by a state-owned enterprise in China’s offshore bond market in nearly two decades. The technical default by Guosen’s Hong Kong affiliate puts at risk a Rmb38m ($5.9m) coupon payment due April 24 on Rmb1.2bn in “dim sum” bonds sold in 2014. Missing that payment would set a precedent for the offshore units of Chinese SOEs, whose creditors widely assume the onshore parent will always stand behind its affiliates, according to analysts. The default was unexpected because Guosen’s onshore unit is by all appearances in rude health. With the city government of Shenzhen… Read more »

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marble

China’s Default Watch: $617 Billion in Regional Debt
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-29/default-watch-starts-for-china-local-debt-cut-free-from-state
While the resilience of local-government financing vehicle bonds has helped it trade at a lower yield than similarly rated corporate securities, that gap is starting to be eroded. The discount for five-year AA+ LGFV notes narrowed 6 basis points from a record high of 32 basis points in January. Total borrowing by 29 of China’s provinces surged to 16.2 trillion yuan at the end of last year, up 53 percent from 2013, according to a March 22 Bloomberg Intelligence report.

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p123

I doubt it would happen, I think we need to stop reading all these doomer articles. If a collapse happens China, US and all the countries would find a way to inflate their way out of it.

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bullwhip29

GEORGE MASSEY TUNNEL REPLACEMENT PROJECT PHASE 3 – PROJECT DEFINITION REPORT http://www.scribd.com/doc/306424579/Massey-Phase-3-Consultation-Summary-Report-March-2016 >>>despite undertaking phase 3 consultation process over the xmas holidays when no one was paying attention and/or regular normal people had other family commitments, the overwhelming majority who managed to voice their opinions were not supportive of project as a whole >>> this is all said, it looks very much like this mega project is priority one for the boys and girls in victoria and it will be rammed through, full steam ahead whether we like it or not. >>> worst of all, once the wheels are finally set in motion (and there is no looking back), we can surely expect both the final bill to come in much, much higher than advertised (which is par for the course) and the scope/design of the project to be altered… Read more »

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Hyper-mega-Bull

a toll bridge on highway 99 will be very good for richmond. a lot fewer delta ppl using the oakstreet bridge.

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Best place on meth

Just sold for $31 million to a discerning hog farmer with impeccable tastes in landscape architecture.

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/16648206/4833-BELMONT-AVENUE-Vancouver-British-Columbia-V6T1A8

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Best place on meth

Even China’s one and only friend, North Korea, now despises them and wants them dead.

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk00100&num=13836

Well, it’s a clean sweep now. 194 out of 194.

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Yunak

“The Workers’ Party of North Korea has recently issued a document from Pyongyang to provincial bodies that condemn Beijing for taking part in UN sanctions against the North and openly rallies Party members toward nuclear conflict with China. ”

This is the historical and unique opportunity for both countries to redeem themselves and eventually contribute to entire World in a good way, once when they start exchanging nukes between two of them.

http://iv1.lisimg.com/image/9444560/500full-dr.-strangelove-or%3A-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-the-bomb-screenshot.jpg

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Best place on meth

Two months ago, Gordon Clark was calling people whiners if they said they couldn’t afford to live in metro Vancouver anymore – told them to move somewhere else.

Now he’s whining himself that he can’t cash out his gigantic multi-million dollar Kitsilano windfall and move to a cheaper, nearby suburb because they’re too expensive now as well.

Poor boomer, such a tragic tale of woe…

http://blogs.theprovince.com/2016/03/30/gordzilla-in-the-city-high-home-prices-dont-just-affect-young-folks/

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Yunak

Logical, what else to expect from the old fart steeped in greed and fat?

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marble

some comments on Crusty’s gift of $16.6 millions to Richmond multi-million-dollar homeowners cum low-income group: #WesternPOV Building in an estuary that would be prone to flooding when a large earth quake liquifies the dikes surrounding built up areas is not going to be protected by pumps. The pumps will do nothing in that situation. This was farmland and is now residential and industrial and high density condo’s. The decision to build on this land was faulty. #Kjartan You can’y possible expect the millionaires who live in Richmond to actually chip in a bit more taxes to keep their 2 million dollar homes dry, can you? Thank goodness Christy came to the rescue of these under privileged wealthy people. #Papi Dave Residential development of Richmond should never have been allowed. It is the most fertile farmland in the province and housing… Read more »

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1234

TREO elsewhere……..here….only UNO?

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Hyper-mega-Bull

This is the cheapest house in richmond. literally next to the airport in burkville.

Land Size
5506 sqft

Floor Space
792 sqft

Built in
1944

$850,000

https://www.realtor.ca/Residential/Single-Family/16281022/2200-HANDLEY-AVENUE-Richmond-British-Columbia-V7B1H7

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Yunak

From multiple security and healthy reasons, Richmond should be completely razed and converted into arable land following some examples in Europe after WWII.

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Hyper-mega-Bull

don’t worry. once it secedes from canada and becomes an chinese city state you won’ t be aloud in anyways without a visa. just hope they don’t take the rest of the lowermainland with them.

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OPENHOUSEMASSACRE

THIS MAKE ME SICK WE GIVE FREE HEALTH CARE TO FUCKING CHINES BUT TURN AWAY OUR OWN PEOPLE.

Homeless man and toddler seeking shelter turned away by ministry staff.

http://www.cknw.com/2016/03/30/homeless-man-and-toddler-turned-away-by-ministry-staff/

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Yunak

This hurts a lot, only people can help people. It’s like wartime.

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bullwhip29

look how quickly homeless shelter proposal got shut down in maple ridge (of all places). imho, as the govt looks for alternate locations the same nimby cast of characters will do whatever they can to throw a wrench into those plans too. of course, they’ll claim it is all being done in the name of safety and security for the precious children, but really deep down inside it is all about money and property values, nothing more. if this means homeless people have nowhere to go, that’s fine with most homeowners as long as they dont have to look at them.

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marble

Crusty gives $16.6 million for flood mitigation in Richmond
http://www.richmond-news.com/news/province-to-help-keep-richmond-dry-with-pump-station-upgrades-1.2217141

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Yunak

Just a brief directive from politburo, Beijing.

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Best place on meth

Money from BC taxpayers going to protect Richmond tax-evaders.

China’s kleptocrats get a free ride once again.

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MLS watch

Still renting a small accommodation in Van. Bought a beautiful home 2 hours away from Vancouver, in a real community. My Van rent + house mortgage = rent I used to pay for a house in Vancouver. I do 50% of my work from home. Mortgage will be paid off before I retire. I might even retire earlier than if I had stayed in Van. Only possible because my kids are teens. I feel for people with small children in this crazy city.

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patriotz

” Mortgage will be paid off before I retire”

I think it says a lot that anyone would think this is worth mentioning.

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bestplaceonearth

“Mortgage will be paid off before I retire. I might even retire earlier than if I had stayed in Van.”

it’s worth mentioning. this poster made it worked for his family. and, there is no whining. he did not pack up for ottawa, did he!

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Combat roach

Right, neither he cheated, lied, faked, launder, speculated, locusted…

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Royce McCutcheon

More power to MLS watch, but that is a pretty heroic arrangement that very few people with young families would embrace. Note the age of his/her kids and that this arrangement requires an employer who accepts remote work.

And what you call “whining”, most people would call “hoping for a basic quality of life that this region offered families for a very long time until less than a decade ago when everyone became obsessed with inflating real estate values at any cost”.

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Bestplaceonearth

Depending on your description Basis quality of life. Is it a sfh near Chip Wilson’s, or a basic condo in new West. Last time I checked, there are two bedroom condo in older buildings for under $250k.

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Ulsterman

I think you missed Patriotz’s point – he mentioned mortgage paid off BEFORE retirement because MLS Watch stated it like it was a phenomenal achievement whereas in normal cities / eras it was just a given. His phrasing demonstrates how absurd this region has become.

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Combat roach

Poor English skills (not checked by immigration officer) with the specific totalitarian mindset and complete absence of sense of figurative speech.

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bestplaceonearth

life in a trailer, no chance to learn english. 3 university degrees and could not make it here…what is the difference?
by the way, if a person wanna move out, move…why needs to make a bid fuss about it.

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Bird

There’s one special thing about Vancouver and thats how former residents like myself seem to keep coming back to blogs like these. For me its a mixture of curiosity and disbelief. I left a couple years ago I thought house prices were ridiculous then considering the low wages. Since then it’s only gotten worse, I miss the old Vancouver but I’m glad I got out when I did. A large number of friends moved away either before or after me so that helps do away with that sadness, although I do still have a lot of family and friends left there. If the economy was ever magically fixed to where you could support a family and communities could grow again based on something other than house prices that would likely make people less stressed out and more friendly, doing away… Read more »

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Hyper-mega-Bull

look at the bright side, you can come back to visit. it’s cheaper and a shorter flight than bejing or shanghi, the air is better, and you can get by with english.

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Bird

true, it’s always nice to visit, plus I automatically get a 25% discount on everything with the dollar down, that helps take the sting out of the sales taxes 🙂

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bullwhip29

The 15 richest self-made women on earth
http://www.businessinsider.com/richest-self-made-women-on-earth-2016-3

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Yunak

Industry: Real estate, Industry: Real estate, Industry: Real estate…

What do they have in common?

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bullwhip29

and what else do they have in common?

– all questionable rags to riches tales involving outright expropriation of land from public and the blatant disregard for the law strictly for the benefit of close friends and family of corrupt govt officials. only other place on earth this happens on similar scale is in russia

– all probably own many millions of dollars worth of RE in cities like Vanc. can’t help but laugh when thinking of the former chinese duck farmer who somehow is able to plunk down $50M for estate overlooking spanish banks

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Hyper-mega-Bull

The Burquitlam Capital – That Last Great Place

COCs are priced out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF4qOuL814k

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elvince

That opinion piece might be enlightening: some people are leaving. Anyone who reads that can easily come to the conclusion that Vancouver just doesn’t offer the quality of life that other places do offer. But the major untold story isn’t about the people who move out. It’s about the people who don’t move in. That, ladies and gentlemen, is much more massive number. People who got actual job offers from a Vancouver company, just ran the numbers, and politely declined due to an obvious mismatch between wage and cost of life. It takes a lot to pack up and leave, so when your best and brightest people start leaving, it’s already been a while that you’ve been unattractive to outside talent. At this point, there is no reason why anyone skilled in STEM would move to Vancouver. None. Wages are… Read more »

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bullwhip29

even honolulu would be less expensive and that’s saying alot

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Royce McCutcheon

Very good comment.

“At this point, there is no reason why anyone skilled in STEM would move to Vancouver. None”

I actually think there is one reason for subset of people who appear to be “moving into” the region. Dig around at the people in STEM (or other sectors) and I can almost guarantee that they or their partner have a strong prior connection to the region (either lived here themselves or have family still). These returners (or their partners) have prior exposure to the “these prices are somehow do-able” Kool-aid.

But yeah – from what I’ve seen, true outsiders with no ties at all typically shrug and take a different offer elsewhere.

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elvince

I think people with local ties will endure a lot of hardship to stay, but those who are left are much harder to get to come back. It’s much easyer to keep people where they are than convince people to come.

Of course, there are the statistical outliers who will move back for a few year to be with their sick parents or something, but these are few and far between. And we’re close to the point where moving a whole extended family out of vancouver is easier/cheaper than moving a single person in.

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