3483 replies to this topic

[aastra]

 

The Capital
November 29, 2019

It seems that Victoria is well on its way to becoming a city of renters.

 

 

Times-Colonist
September 19, 2018

Data show home ownership in Victoria remains elusive

Victoria remains a city of renters, and No. 2 on the list of Canadian cities with the fewest homeowners, according to numbers from Statistics Canada.

 

 

Times-Colonist (Comment)
August 20, 2017

Victoria is a city of renters (making up 59 per cent of households), and new rental housing is key to future affordability.

[tedward]

It's just an endless loop. Each new generation seems to have no interest whatsoever in knowing what happened before, what their parents went through, what their grandparents went through, etc.

 

OK Boomer

[Nparker]

You have to respect the eye-opening investigative skills of the TC and The Capital.

[aastra]

--

 

 

Vancouver Sun
December 1, 1992

Renters in Vancouver, Victoria least able to buy

Vancouver and Victoria renters are far less likely to afford a home purchase now than renters in any other part of Canada, according to a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. survey.

The survey found that only 21.7 per cent of Vancouver renters can afford to buy a home now while just 11.2 per cent of Victoria renters can buy a house.

The affordability factor is much more serious in Victoria because the average household income for renters in B.C.'s capital city is just $41,600, the sixth lowest of 27 cities surveyed. That income would allow renters to buy a $127,000 townhouse or condominium.

Analysts attribute Victoria's low average income to the city's large number of senior citizens on fixed incomes.

 

In the 1990s we were still weeping for impoverished seniors. Now we're cursing those wealthy and "overhoused" seniors and weeping for impoverished 20-somethings.

 

*****

 

 

Vancouver Sun
August 10, 1991

Victoria renters last on list to buy 1st home

Quick. Which Canadian city has the lowest percentage of renters who can afford a starter home?

Vancouver and Toronto would be good guesses but you'd be wrong. The correct answer is Victoria, home of the newly-wed and the restfully retired.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. statistics show just nine per cent of Victoria renters can afford to buy a starter house. Toronto has the next lowest figure, at 17.7 per cent, while just 17.9 per cent of Vancouver renters can afford to buy.

 

Good guesses... crikey.

Edited by aastra, 29 November 2019 - 10:51 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

the Saanich warning bells are lovely at this time of year.

[aastra]

I'd agree with you but unfortunately it's not ringing any bells.

[Matt R.]

Strata insurance rates going up - again.

https://globalnews.c...source=GlobalBC

Matt.

[Nparker]

Strata insurance rates going up - again...

Gouge, gouge, gouge.

[Victoria Watcher]

speaking of insurance rates.

 

 

So you've won a lavish $900,000 house in the Hospital Home Lottery.  Now what?  

 

For a typical New Brunswick winner, the next step has become surprisingly routine — sell quickly at a deep discount.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...value-1.4133955

 

The group bought home insurance on the first day at $800 per month, an elevated rate partly because no one was living in the home.  

 

Municipal property taxes accumulated at $625 per month and provincial property taxes — because it was considered a second home for all three owners  — added another $700 per month.

 

The group took possession in December, and Cline remembers heating costs for the large house running another $500 per month with snowplowing adding more to the burden.

 

 

 

these poor eastern saps win a $900k house and none can afford to live in it.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 November 2019 - 11:19 AM.

[VIResident]

Coming to a muni near you.....

 

 

"A proposal for a more than 9-per-cent tax increase to cover Vancouver’s 2020 budget has sparked public backlash and a promise from many councillors that they will be looking for ways to cut costs."  https://www.theglobe...klash-but-some/

[VIResident]

As a side note 

Average Canadian family will pay about $480 more for groceries in 2020, major study predicts

https://www.theglobe...oceries-in-202/

[VIResident]

Another side note ( I see MattR posted about this, I've added the headline for the amount of the increase & point is, from groceries to insurance costs are dramatically going up - the additional levies the city piles on plus the run-of-the-mill taxes - nothing is affordable)

 

 

https://globalnews.c...ac75a-121164041

B.C. condo owners brace for sticker shock as insurance rates surge ’50 to 300%’

 

Edited by VIResident, 04 December 2019 - 07:13 AM.

[Mike K.]

From the article: "Big insurers buy insurance against the policies they sell to clients in order to insulate themselves from possible major payouts."

 

Insurance for insurance, in other words.

 

Keep in mind that strata fees also include building insurance, which means strata rates will be absorbing higher insurance rates as well.

 

So each building has its own insurance, plus each tenant has his own insurance. Tenants, therefore, pay for their own insurance, the building insurance, and through their rising insurance rates the insurance for the insurers.

[lanforod]

IIRC, a building I own in went from 65k to 90k+ for insurance this year. It's a massive jump.

[VIResident]

IIRC, a building I own in went from 65k to 90k+ for insurance this year. It's a massive jump.

Big ouch lanforod!  People are starting to feel it and this is Dec. the new year - big financial shock for many in Greater Victoria.  Municipalities, province aren't anywhere near the 'cut, cut, cut' mode - still 'spend, spend, spend!' and up, up, up go the levies, fees, taxes. 

[Mike K.]

Now consider what this will mean for rental rates in purpose-built rentals.

 

Many homeowners are starting to cut earthquake insurance from their packages in light of the rising premiums.

[Nparker]

Here's a wonderfully ill-informed head scratcher

...Will more high-rises in Victoria help with costs? It’s not lack of housing that is the problem. It is the demand that comes from people outside the region who are willing to pay more to live here. Replacing Victoria’s old homes with high-density high-rise condos won’t make housing cheaper as long as people keep moving here. What we need instead is a vision of what we want Victoria to become. Do we want a charming city of beautiful neighbourhoods and parks, or a bustling metropolis of high-rises?

https://www.timescol...ings-1.24069686

I ask two questions of the letter writer:

• How do you propose to reduce the demand of "people from outside the region" from wanting to live here?
• What is your "vision" for what Victoria should become - other than to freeze it in some idyllic past that never actually existed?

[Mike K.]

Don’t get worked up by stuff like that. It’s not worth the energy.

[Victoria Watcher]

it's like the letter writer on dallas rd. parking today that says "condo prices have priced themselves out of the market".  not people out of the market.  but somehow condos out of the very market they are in.

 

 

 

 

The lack of affordable housing is only increasing, as Victoria offers large bonuses to those developers who have moved on from condo developments to create pricey and profitable rentals.

 

This is in response to the fact that the condominiums have priced themselves out of the market.

 

https://www.timescol...ings-1.24069686

 

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 06 February 2020 - 09:18 AM.

[aastra]

 

...Will more high-rises in Victoria help with costs? It’s not lack of housing that is the problem. It is the demand that comes from people outside the region who are willing to pay more to live here.

 

You know, because nobody who already lives in a place has ever demonstrated any willingness to pay more to remain in that place, by upgrading his/her situation. Never happens. For goodness sake, we've consumed ~70 years of media coverage re: the housing crisis. The point has been made over and over again, every which way, that Victoria is permanently situated at the top of the list re: Canada's toughest housing markets (typically #1 or #2, generation after generation... it's not a fad, it's not some new thing).

 

Methinks many people are still going to extreme lengths to deny the obvious. If options are limited and if people are willing to pay then the options will inevitably be pricey.

 

 

Replacing Victoria’s old homes with high-density high-rise condos won’t make housing cheaper...

 

It's so sad, all of those old homes in the HBC parkade that were replaced with high-density highrise condos, or all of those old homes on the Coronet parking lot that were replaced with highrise condos, or all of those old homes on the Songhees/Dockside Green industrial brownfields that were replaced with highrise condos, or all of those old homes on the parking lots of south downtown that were replaced with highrise condos, etc. How many more old homes will be lost when the London Drugs complex is redeveloped, or when the Pluto's lot is redeveloped, or when the Cook Street car dealerships are redeveloped, etc.?

 

Seriously, if people make a fuss about high-density highrise condos replacing old homes when such is only occurring in their imaginations, I can't imagine how upset they'd be if it were really happening.

 

So much faux-environmentalism in those TC letters. The replacement of downtown surface parking lots with apartments should make any legitimate environmentalist jump for joy.

Edited by aastra, 06 February 2020 - 10:41 AM.