A new report says Vancouver is “impossibly unaffordable” and ranks just behind Hong Kong, Sydney, and San Jose.
The study from Chapman University is an annual look at affordability across eight countries, comparing median home prices to median incomes.
The phrase “impossibly unaffordable” refers to markets with median prices triple the level of the “affordable” category and was added to the terminology of the study just last year.
The study’s authors say that the scale of unaffordability did not exist 30 years ago.
Before the 1990s, middle-income homeownership was widespread among high-income nations with house prices aligned with incomes.
However, “prices have surged — especially in markets governed by urban containment strategies,” the report read.
The authors say urban containment strategies are city planning policies that look to limit urban sprawl.
Reducing the amount of land available for middle-income housing increases prices.
The researchers at Chapman University say city planners have gravitated — both in Vancouver and in other expensive cities around the world — towards policies that focus on building upwards to increase density within the urban core.
Those policies, the study claims, have resulted in homes now costing 9–15 times the household income.
The solution for many residents? Leaving expensive markets for more affordable places.
Especially in Canada and the U.S., middle-income households are increasingly leaving urban centres in search of something they can afford.
In B.C., however, this is easier said than done, as the study finds the effects of these policies are not only limited to Metro Vancouver — it finds skyrocketing prices in almost every urban centre in the province.
According to the study, these moves reflect long-term structural problems.
And without major reform, this exodus seems likely to continue.
source: CityNews
