BCBUSINESS.CA jULY/AUGUST 2018 BCBusiness 39
create happier, healthier places, a practice that
grew from his 2013 book Happy City: Transforming
Our Lives Through Urban Design. "Simply increas-
ing supply, in some cases, may just be o•ering
more investment opportunities for global capital."
Part of the supply-sider argument toys with
hubris: our province is so supernaturally beauti-
ful, goes this line, that people will always come
here in droves. Unless more units are built, new-
comers will put even more strain on a•ordability
because demand will continue to outstrip supply.
It's a compelling explanation, but it may not be
the whole truth.
A 2017 study by Kwantlen Polytechnic Univer-
sity geographer John Rose found that from 2001
to 2016, while housing prices in Metro Vancouver
jumped, the overall population didn't; for every
100 households who relocated here, 119 units of
housing came on the market, pointing to specu-
lative buying, domestic and foreign, as a culprit.
Yan agrees, adding that in the past 've years,
Unless more units are built, newcomers
will put even more strain on affordability
because demand will continue to outstrip supply.
It's a compelling explanation, but it may not
be the whole truth
