Data sourcE: crEa 24 BCBusiness octoBEr 2016
High Times
vancouver housing is expensive.
what else is new? by Felicity Stone
V
ancouver has a long history
of pricey housing, especially
since the Second World War,
and an equally long history of specu-
lation about causes and potential
solutions. In 1949, the Vancouver
Housing Association noted, "There
is a widespread illusion that with the
rise in incomes, home ownership is
possible for almost everybody. The
facts are that owing to a still greater
rise in building costs, fewer people
can aŒord to build now than before
the war."
By the 1960s, the chairman of the
Vancouver housing committee was
recommending smaller lots or row
housing to address aŒordability,
while the Greater Vancouver Real
Estate Board touted inŽll housing in
1976 to ease the high cost of single
family homes. Just a year earlier,
the United Way of Greater Vancouver
was blaming municipal red tape for
the skyrocketing cost of housing.
The Canadian Real Estate
Association Žrst started tracking
housing market statistics in 1980,
and since that time Vancouver real
estate has been the priciest in the
country—apart from a period in the late
'80s when Toronto brie…y pulled ahead.
Ever since, however, Vancouver has
been in a league of its own—with prices
spiralling upward to increasingly
dizzying heights. This year appeared
to follow that trend—at least until the
province muddied the waters with a for-
eign buyer's tax in June 2016. Whatever
that tax's impact, there's little doubt
that talk about "our crazy market"
will continue for many years to come.
GRAPH
1981
"people should not
think single family
home ownership is a
right and ... a young
couple should not
expect their first home
to be like the one their
parents had."
– Vancouver Sun,
april 2, 1981
1985
"real estate is expensive because land
is scarce around the city and because
'vancouver is the california of canada,'
says carl nielsen, president
of Block Brothers realty ltd."
– The Gazette, June 12, 1985
1993
"vancouver has the highest
cost of housing in canada, after
three years of rapid increases
that pushed the price in several
working-class neighbourhoods
beyond the reach of many new
home buyers."
– Globe and Mail, august 12, 1993
1989
"real estate analysts attribute
the current housing boom to B.c.'s
strong economy and to growing
interest from offshore buyers."
– Vancouver Sun, January 5, 1989
1996
"colossal increases in
the price of average-
sized lots have made
many new houses
unaffordable for aver-
age homeowners."
– Vancouver Sun, may
4, 1996
1984:
the British agree
to return hong
Kong to china
in 1997
Canadian
ReCession
1982
Canadian
ReCession
1992
1980
16.75%
1981
21.75%
1997
6.70%
2003
5.80%
2010
5.25%
2016
4.64%
1986:
EXpo
86
5-YEar FiXED mortGaGE ratEs sincE 1980
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
