Vancouver Keeps Climbing

On CTV News the other night, the headline story was about bursting the real estate bubble in Vancouver.  Apparently, luxury homes have not been selling as well as last year, down an estimated 30%.  The story went on to conclude that the “Average Joe” may soon be able to afford a luxurious home for only 3 to 4 million dollars.  Needless to say, I wasn’t taking a sigh of relief at the end of the segment.

As long as I can remember making note of such things as property rates, I have only recalled one thing about Vancouver real estate: the prices keep going up.  And the longer I live here, the more obvious the reasons become.

The 2010 Winter Olympics took everyone by surprise as both the weather and the people in Vancouver behaved more pleasantly than anticipated.  The warm temperatures, the strange absence of rain and snow, and the abundance of friendly smiles and high-fives in the streets all helped boost Vancouver’s reputation and image when all eyes were on the downtown core.  The City’s low-environmental impact initiatives were successful in boosting Vancouver’s reputation as a green city.  The additional bike lanes, driving restrictions and the new state-of-the-art Convention Center were just some of the ways Vancouver made a stellar impression on the world stage and on real estate investors.   

Post-Olympics, Vancouver has continued to build and sell condos everywhere possible, and gain more international attention with a few hit TV shows such as Gastown Gamble and The Real Housewives of Vancouver—the first Canadian city to have the Real Housewives franchise.  The gorgeous shots of Vancouver (to date, all episodes have been filmed on clear sunny days) make Vancouver look as irresistible as southern California.  And with people like the real housewives moving to the city without having to wince at the price tags, the cost of living in Vancouver shows no sign of coming down.  High competitive prices work in favor of the international housing market, so unless there is an economic incentive to lower prices, I fear the highest bidder will simply always win.

The Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability in Vancouver is giving me some hope. Having a Task Force on the issue is comforting because it addresses housing affordability as a real problem. Perhaps by the time I am ready to stop floating in a limbo of month-by-month living, some solutions will have surfaced.  Until then, it looks like becoming a millionaire is going to have to be a serious goal in my 10-year plan.