Limited Access For Middle-Class Buyers Into Vancouver’s Housing Market

Despite the obvious slowdown in sales volume in Vancouver, middle-class families and potential homeowners are still being driven away due to the high-end price of properties in the residential real estate markets. With a vibrant creation of job opportunities and economic fundamentals, there has been an increase in the number of empty or temporarily occupied homes by more than two-fold since the year 2015, with the number up to 66,719. The empty properties are worth for at least a million dollars. Director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, Andy Yan said highlighted the immense growth in the number of vacant homes which affects the middle-class consumer, making it harder for them to have access to the market. Yan penned down in his recent study; “Many homes have become just luxury items like Ferraris. They’re not affordable for most local incomes.”

The average price of a single-family home on the west side of Vancouver is now valued at $4.9 million, approximately 65 times more than the income of an average household in the city. Foreign nationals who are well off have been blamed by analysts, who purchase homes to have houses vacant and bought for flipping purposes only.  The lack of supply in the area in the midst of the continuous uproar for rental housing in the city, at this point in time, the demand for homes in Vancouver shows no signs of coming to a halt. Authors David and Mark Goodman transcribed in January; “It’s anticipated that the regional population will increase by an average of 35,000 per year until 2040.”

Immense demand has caused the average price for suites in Vancouver to go up by $377,000 during last year, it was up from the previous year by 52 per cent. The chances of the trend ending do not seem possible according to the authors. Both stated that; “The Goodman Report expects local landlords to remain insulated from any apparent decline in tenant demand or softening of rents.”