From my understanding there is a real issue with “non-used” homes. This includes homes that are new and resale homes that are being purely held for speculation. The most recent stats on family income in Vancouver suggest that the average house is no longer affordable for the majority of people who work and would like to live in the city.
For Canada as a whole, median pre-tax family income was $74,540, measured in constant 2012 dollars. The Vancouver region is near the bottom of pile, scoring 28th with a median family income of $71,140 in 2012. – via
If the real issue is vacant housing, there is definitely tax incentives that Vancouver could offer to encourage owners to take part in the rental market. Leaving out race and nationality and be fair to all Canadians.
Would the mayor of Vancouver please make up his mind?
In 2011, in a conversation with David Suzuki, Gregor Robertson observed that “people with money” come here from all over the world because they want to be part of Vancouver’s beauty and sense of community. That, he fretted, “creates challenges for my kids and the next generation to live here. It’s not affordable to live here now.”
In 2013, in Hong Kong at the end of an eight-day tour of China, Robertson told the South China Morning Post newspaper that Vancouver had been attracting international investors long before the current influx of mainland Chinese buyers, and that it was “ridiculous” to think they were driving up house prices here.