Is it hard to find housing in Vancouver?

Reading a recent article about the affordability of rental housing in Vancouver suggests renters are struggling to find housing in their budget. Why is this? Is this a new problem? 

I moved to Vancouver in 1991 when I was 24 years old. The 1980s were a very slow economy in Canda and BC was no different coming out of a recession at that time.  

I struggled to find employment and housing at that time that was “affordable”. Affordability in Vancouver housing has been a topic for the entire time living in the area.  

I moved here with my sister and we first rented a basement unit in Richmond as that was what we could afford. We then moved to 4th Ave. in Vancouver renting a two bedroom apartment for $800 per month. That apartment like many rental properties in Vancouver did not have in suite laundry. It was in the building, and we had to pay to use the laundry. I moved from there to a bachelor apartment which was a 400 sq foot one room apartment, and I rented for $400 per month. I moved out of that unit when the landlord increased the rent to $475 per month which was a 16% increase in the rent. This was allowed as at tht  time there were no restrictions on the limits for a rent increase. I moved in with a friend temporarily until my partner and I then rented a one bedroom unit together. 

I finally bought my first home when I was 30 years old moving to Port Moody. Until I lived in five different properties in the Vancouver area, and none of them had laundry in the unit. 

As property manager today I am surprised by young people’s expectations when trying to rent a property. Many advise they won’t rent a place without laundry in the unit, and don’t want gas appliances due to the environment. At the same time they complain about the cost of housing. I am confused by this disconnect. When you want more services there is a cost to those additional expectations.  

The article also suggests that some people don’t want to share a space. The majority of the properties built in recent years have been two bedroom units meaning smaller units are not available. The reason for this is the public was advicing there was not enough spaces for families due to the lack of single famly homes not being built which increased condo to multiple bedroom units. Many people lived with friends and roommates in their youth. It is normal for that to happen. 

I have heard many people leave to go live in our neighbour province of Alberta when the economy slows and for years have seen many return a year or two later. The rent cost might be less expensive, but they don’t account for all the other expenses to live. Alberta is colder than Vancouver meaning heating costs are higher, like Ontario it is vast and requires most people to own a car to perform any task which adds costs. 

The Vancouver rental market is slowing down and will continue to slow over the next two years. This will be caused by a slow down in the development of new products. The higher interest rates followed by various government changes including Air BNB, and immigration changes for example. This is creating developers to slow down on new developments. We will see this change in about two years after all the current product being built is completed and there are no new products being started. This may surprise people, this isn’t the first time this has happened in Vancouver. I have seen multiple slow downs in the economy and each time developers stop building, decreasing the supply of the product. 

At the moment the supply of rental prices is greater than the demand of tenants looking. This is putting pressure on the rental prices and rents are decreasing. We don’t expect a stop to this downard pressure for two or three years. 

The article also mentions that young people are finding it harder to search for properties due to the large number of websites that have properties advertised for rent. The internet has made searching for a rental property easy. It has also helped grow the individual condo and housing rental market. Before the internet, finding a condo to rent would be very diffficult. The ad would need to be in the local newspaper and only printed a few times per week. Renting from an apartment building meant going to the neighbourhood and visiting the building to see if there were any units available. The process for renting has shortened dramatically.  

Today renters can view the property online, the area of the property is located, apply and send payments for the property from your home without actually visiting the unit. It doesn’t get any easier than that. 

Affordability has always been a concern and always will be. What one person considers affordable another doesn’t. 

Need help managing your investment properties. Cartref Properties can assist you, call today to discuss your needs. You can find more information about us at: www.cartrefproperties.com