How B.C. can escape its painful housing trap
The B.C. government’s recent budget included a 30-point plan aimed at the province’s housing woes. The aim was off the mark.
Most of the plan’s points fit into two broad categories: reducing demand by raising property transfer taxes, for non-residents and on homes over $3 million, for example; and increased spending on social housing – sometimes called affordable housing – for disadvantaged groups.
In both of these categories, the government targets specific niches of the housing spectrum – non-residents and the most vulnerable – but ignores the fundamental drivers of housing markets (and prices) for the vast majority of British Columbians.
British Columbia gained almost 250,000 new residents between 2011 and 2016 – more than the entire population of Burnaby. A growing population and growing average incomes and historically low mortgage interest rates mean that homes in B.C. – particularly in Vancouver – remain in high demand.