Vancouver Housing - Again
Yes I wish I was still living in Vancouver. Today, however, I fell upon a newspaper article and a study that reconfirms why we decided to move away from that beautiful city.
The newspaper article explains how, in 2011, you will be able to rent a 270 square foot micro-loft in the shittiest neighbourhood in Vancouver for $675 a month. This is only possible, by the way, because of various subsidies that were handed to the developer. I also learnt that the city of Vancouver has a by-law that permits rentals to be as small as 195 square feet.
The survey shows that housing affordability in Vancouver is the lowest of all cities surveyed in Canada, Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The equation is simple. Average house price divided by average income. So in Vancouver the ratio is 9.3. This means that an average house is worth 9.3 times the average gross income. It did not surprise me that Vancouver was unaffordable. What did surprise me, however, was that it is a less affordable place to live than Greater London (7.1) and New York City and San Francisco (both at 7.0).
We were lucky to have owned a townhouse in Vancouver and to have benefited from this price inflation. We were lucky to have been able to cash in and move to a place that is more affordable. We were lucky to have an amazing house in a great neighbourhood on the island of Montreal a short drive from downtown.
Unfortunately I couldn't do this in Vancouver.
Comments
Now, for less than the price of that 270 sq foot closet, I live on a 100 acre farm with large house, 3 out buildings, ability to heat ourselves (our 75 acre forest) and lots of land to feed ourselves (garden, a fruit crop and some animals). Its still in Canada with all the benefits of living in this country and with an open mind, just as great as the Lower Mainland with money left over to actually live life have plenty of options and not just work to pay for that crazy real-estate...