Most unaffordable housing market in the world? Vancouver.
 

The average house is more than nine times the average annual salary

Jill Drews Jan 25, 2010 09:22:15 AM


Housing market looking past the Games

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Vancouver is number one but it's not exactly the best list to top. A report by the Frontier Centre for Public Policy shows Vancouver has the most unaffordable housing market in the world.

The Centre's Wendell Cox says Vancouver gets a 9.3 on the index, a figure suggesting the average house sells for more than nine times the average annual salary. "The numbers are very clear on it. Vancouver is exceedingly expensive and marginally more expensive than Sydney, Australia which is the second most expensive market in the six nations we looked at."


Australian communities round out the top five unaffordable markets in the world while Victoria, Abbotsford and Kelowna all appear in the top 40.

If you are looking for a more affordable place to buy, Detroit is it. According to the survey, you can buy a place in the Motor City for just a little more than your average salary. Thunder Bay and Windsor, Ontario come in as the most affordable markets in Canada.

I'd rather get 1 house in Vancouver than get 9 in that shithole called Detroit.

x2

Probably get stabbed before you sign all the mortgage papers.

Anyways, that's the main reason I got the hell out of Vancouver, I'd rather not rent for the rest of my life. I make a pretty decent salary and would still struggle to buy a home in Vancouver, let alone the 'burbs.

9 times is bad?

In China, its 30

Looking at the table below, I rather move to Toronto. Big city with RE at half the price.
Fuck Vancouver. Totally unjustified.

TABLE

Metropolitan Market Median Multiple (2009 / 2008 / change):

Calgary 4.6/ 4.8/ -0.2

Edmonton 4.1/ 4.2/ -0.1

Hamilton 4.2/ 4/ 0.2

Kelowna 5.9/ 6.8/ -0.9

Montreal 4.9/ 4.6/ 0.3

Ottawa-Gatineau 3.8/ 3.4/ 0.4

Quebec 3.6/ 3.4/ 0.2

Regina 3.5/ 3.5/ 0

Saint John, N.B. 2.8/ 2.7/ 0.1

Saskatoon 4.4/ 4.6/ -0.2

St. John's 3.1/ 2.8/ 0.3

Toronto 5.2/ 4.8/ 0.4

Vancouver 9.3/ 8.4/ 0.9

Victoria 7.9/ 7.4/ 0.5

Windsor 2.2/ 2.3/ -0.1

Winnipeg 3.3/ 3/ 0.3

National Median Multiple 3.7 / 3.5 / 0.2

Source: Frontier Centre for Public Policy

Real estate prices in Vancouver have always been a rollercoaster ride. Right now they are up, they will come down, and after they come down they will stay down for the better part of a decade. Its happened 3 times in the previous 30 years.

It sucks cause you feel priced out, yet don't feel too bad. Who would want to own an asset that's about to decrease and will lose money vs inflation for the next decade? You can also rent for 50-75% of the cost of ownership, investing the difference.

There will be people who disagree, that real estate always goes up. Its not true, there have been 3 periods of 2-7 years where real estate in Vancouver has lost money over the last 30 years. Yes you can hold it until prices rise, yet I wouldn't want to be a 30yo that bought a 500 sqft 1bdrm that has to hold onto it for almost a decade, and can only cover 50-75% of the mortgage by renting it.

^
That only matters if you're buying a house as a short term investment. Take into account that if you look at the 30 year cycle, which let's face it, up until the last decade people would live in the same house for that long, you'll find that it's much better to buy than to rent. Short term, it can go down. But in the long term, the prices of property will rise, not to mention that you also have a valuable asset once it's all paid off.

Buying a house was one of the best investments I've made, and wish I had done it a decade earlier.

Lets not talk about the last decade, I don't have a time machine to go back 10 years and buy, or I would and would agree with you.

Lets talk now.

Houses are ~$1M in metro Van, and not many people are buying them to live in for 30 years. Young buyers cannot afford them, and those who can afford them will admit housing has become a part of their retirement plan, so they'll be sold long before living there 30 years.

So if young buyers aren't buying homes, what are they buying? condos. Small condos. Condos too small to support a 2 child family. So in 5-10 years when they do want a family, they have to sell and move.

The last housing slump in Van lasted 7 years. Imagine being young and stuck in your condo for 7 years, trying to raise a family, paying 25-50% more than renting for the privilege of not getting hosed selling for a loss.

---

I own a house in Ottawa and recently put it up for sale. I'm not speaking as the typical jilted renter, jealous of house owners. I've made money on my house in Ottawa, I want out before I lose that.

---

Lats point: ask people from Japan and Germany if real estate is a good investment :thumbsup:

oh no...

Thanks China

Come on guys, you can't believe everything you read. $650k is reasonable for a 2br 1 ba in East Vancouver.

:werd:

That's a good article, but I'm still praying for some crazy housing drops post olympic years!!! I calculated that I'd have to live pretty poorly to afford anything currently :(

average house price is what? 600k?
and the average salary is 67k? no way
how the hell do u make 67k

^
where is the source?

67K is avg single income or avg family income?

^^ going by the article. I think my paretns' is around 650k so if the house is 9.3x of what they make then my parents make about 63k per year which they make no where near that number.

Now an apartment I think is true. I recently sold my apartment for about 360k and I make about more than 36k a year so I think is about right where apartments is about 10x the cost of average single income.

^^^ more close to family income. No way average is that high per person. I dont think post olympics will drop the realestate market, infact slight increase. The slow recovering economy has more effect on our real estate than a 2 week local event. No investor is goin to purchase real estate just for hopes to make money during the olympics and run the risk of that small time frame after to dump the property. Would you open a restaurant just to make some money from the olympic tourists and close it after? no.

Most numbers I've seen quote a bit more than $60k for median family income in BC. For example:

Median family income of about $62k in 2006 (Derived from Canadian Census 2006 data):
http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/data/ce...ts/cff0617.pdf

It's worthwhile noting that the most affluent "family" group - empty nesters - made a median income of about $90k, whilst all married couples earned about $69k. It's still a crazy multiple to the cost of purchased housing.

most unaffordable? try HK

Conduit road 39 recently sold for $71280 per square ft.

thats close to 10k per sq ft in canadian dollar.

lol that road where i live.. i believe that one u mentioned is the one with the "88 floors"?


compare to back in the days, its much harder to buy a suite in the anywhere now

But HK have those cheap rental apartments from the government which isn't too bad.

I would rather spend a million in Florida or Arizona and actually feel like it was worth it when I came home every day.

sry double post

My Grandfathers house, which was purchased for $57,000 in the early 60's sold last month for $880,000. $70,000 OVER our asking price.

It was just off 41st and Elgin.

Unless you're powered by mommy and daddy, how can you afford a 360k condo on an "about more than 36k a year" salary?