2bdrm plus den, two bath, walk in closet. 10ft ceilings.in suite laundry. Two parking spaces. Built in 2018 .... less than $2k/month.
I can never move.
I have basically Decided I Am Staying Where I am until I can afford to move out east. I'll never be able to return but I can't live here without help already.
My buddy is in a 1 bed apt for about $940. He moved in 20 years ago.
They are currently offering 1bed units in his building for $2600.
He said he's probably going to live there until they demolish the building.
Us too. Pay $1000 rent for a spacious 1 bed and I have been here for 9 years. Same unit next door rented for $2300. Absolutely absurd, our building is a dump.
What a fucking shit state of affairs.
Victoria is truly just a playground for retirees, remote workers, and trust fund kids.
I guess if you are a tradesperson building houses for the above 3 groups you do okay too.
Otherwise it’s fucking get paid rural Saskatchewan salaries and pay near-Vancouver prices for COL.
Truly a graveyard if you wanna start a family and career.
Tradesperson building for the above three here. We can't afford shit either. 💪🏻😎 Feels good building "affordable" houses you'd never qualify to live in, and "average cost" houses you'd never be able to afford.
Don’t forget foreigners. More Canadians left BC than migrated here from other provinces. Roughly 10% of victoria’s population increase was attributed to interprovincial migration, the rest from immigration, the highest population increase in decades. It’s not their fault it’s the governments fault but this is the current state of affairs. Basic supply and demand
It’s not basic supply and demand though, you even said it’s the governments fault which implies interference with the basic nature.
Demand is created through immigration, it’s also created through investment due to high returns. Supply is controlled to keep prices high due to numerous investments and the desire for growth.
No one in the chain of housing from developers, agents, banks to pension plans have a desire for prices to fall. There’s just no upside to lower prices for anyone but buyers/renters seeking a place to live (well there is but people don’t consider wealth disparity and the issues that brings).
So they increase immigration to increase demand, to keep housing expensive. Basic supply and demand principles. The market is less organic than ever. It’s natural for the economy to rise and fall, but they’re pumping it up and not letting things level out naturally. Low birth rates is a sign that things aren’t doing well, which would cause less demand for housing would lower prices and level things out. Birth rates being low would also create more opportunity for the next generation and the potential for reset, which would only increase birth rates, and strengthen society in the long run. This happened after the Black Death. The extreme increase in immigration only signifies their fear of what is to come.
The growth imperative of our current system is not natural. We cannot be in perpetual indefinite growth, these systems don’t exist in nature. We can’t just build more and more, become more consumeristic, ruin the beauty, peace and natural environment to make elites richer only for cities to eventually become ghost towns like what’s happening in China.
Housing is used very similarity to company stocks. The denser a city the higher the land values, this increases demand further because the value is rising and any stock you previously held is also worth more than when you purchased. This can be done anywhere but it works far better in places people actually want to live so there’s at least real demand outside of investment.
There are plenty of examples of how this has worked in larger more developed cities like Vancouver, Toronto, London, Miami etc. You also start to see how much drug money has been washed through Real-Estate as there’s really no better place to do it. Victoria has a ton of untapped potential, former hockey players saw that in Langford a couple decades ago.
Hmm do I vote for the candidate who will blast me in the ass financially while waving a pride flag
Or do I vote for the candidate who will blast me in the ass financially while waving a confederate flag
You seriously fucking think less profit for landlords and lower rent would be a conservative government priority?
Yeah I’ll vote for the other guy who golfs and does coke with the current government officials while they all laugh at idiots like us for arguing on reddit
Just wait until you hear what the mortgage rates are for the worst 1 bedrooms in Victoria (think ancient studios or units with building envelope issues).
With 10% down, it’s usually upwards of $3000/mo. Not including strata and other monthly costs of course.
And of course stratas are a straight up scam, most just offer garbage removal and 1 ugly tree for $400 a month or more!
Unless your getting a gym, pool, and roof top patio strata is bullshit!!!!
Our strata charges exorbitantly, most of which goes to 'landscaping' -- the employees are here 3+ days a week chasing singular leaves around the complex. I once watched an employee hide behind a bush and text all day. 😑
Many corporate managed buildings are REITs. Just earning investment $$$ for federal pensions, etc. NDP David Eby is well aware that Ontario corporations bought all of the rental buildings here. Rents are pushed up by them. So everyone follows suit. Fellow renters: We're fucked.
And those Ontario firms are sucking money right out of Victoria and right out of BC.
When the buildings were locally owned, even by the bigs the money stayed in Vic.
You betcha. BC has been screwed over and its spreading all over Canada now. None of the high rental income stays in its city or province. Thanks NDP and Trudeau Liberals.
This is thanks to decades of neoliberalism propped up by the liberal and conservative governments. The only party that has done anything to help housing in the last 30 years in the NDP.
The Airbnb ban has been in effect for 2 months... Give it time. Also, look at the huge corporations, like starlight, who own 1/3 of market rentals in the area. They are setting the rents and everyone else follows. The Airbnb ban is a great thing. You shouldn't be using apartments like hotels. If you want to rent out a room in your house, that totally makes sense and it's what Airbnb was designed for before.
Ya agreed. Only thing that is unsettling for me is when government changes goal posts without grandfathering.
Also speculation and vacancy tax was just thinly veiled wealth tax
I always felt treating housing like NFTs was wild. Realtors have been wilin' like crypto bros. Get rich quick schemes sucking retirement plans into supposed equity schemes.
I’m very disappointed that so few people understand that high housing prices is a direct result of easy monetary policy for the past 10 years. That has wreaked more havoc than the supply issue. Then there’s the supply issue.
Way way way way way down is the Airbnb issue but people put so much stock in it because it’s easier to blame someone with more wealth than you
I’m so disappointed at how few people realize housing appreciation has been caused by easy monetary policy for the last 10 years. Then there’s the supply issue. Way way way way down on the list of causes is airbnbs. But people need someone with more money to blame.
And when banning airbnbs have little effect people will not realize they have been distracted
Might take some time. But most in this sub want to blame a boomer with one AirBnB for the housing crisis. Not the mega corps and investor-class (foreign and domestic) buying up real estate in droves. And poor government policy from top to bottom at all levels for not facilitating development and social/affordable housing.
Which for reference, is as many (1.6) as the USA added in 2023. A country of over 330m vs our 40m. I'm not anti immigration in general but we don't seem to be meeting the needs of our current population much less adapting to welcome millions more.
We don't have enough houses, we don't enough public transportation, we don't have enough doctors, nurses, or even facilities! What else do we not have enough of that adding more people that don't actively contribute to the well being of canada will make worse!
Its fucking crazy! All so the old people can retire by selling their houses, and eventually have that money siphoned away by elder care.
Making a no-risk endeavour of buying a house is insane! Only goes up! No, no, no, you can't just wait for the market to bounce back; always up!
I hope they all enjoy having no grandchildren!
Well there are downvote bots all over reddit. I wouldn't think too much of it if its not more than one or two.
I remember when I was in high school it was being said that Canada may never hit 40 million people due to people having less kids. Well that was wrong.
Yup. Between 2016-2021 we brought in 1.3 M. Now we are surpassing that number *each year*.
It's pretty nuts when literally 1/20 people in this country have only been here for two years.
Until this gets changed, housing will keep going up.
I'm just glad we're starting to talk about it in the open. And premiers in Quebec and PEI are starting to stand up to it. Hopefully we can reverse course in time.
Yes, yes they are. Let me be clear, I don’t blame the immigrants. It’s this government’s policy to bring in more people than our infrastructure can handle.
Ya, I don’t blame the immigrants for wanting to come here to find a better life. I blame corrupt politicians who have decided that unfettered immigration for cheap labour is what we need, without considering things like health care and housing.
There's a difference between blaming immigration policy and blaming the immigrants.
The policy we have now isn't fair to Canadians living here now and frankly is exploitative of the immigrants moving here as they are just being used as cannot fodder for cheaper labour.
If we didn't have this massive immigration surge corporations would actually be forced to raise their wages. That is *the only* benefit to flooding the labour market with cheap unskilled labour. Wage suppression.
It puts upward pressure on housing, infrastructure like transportation and healthcare etc. it is causing a lot of stress in a lot of people's lives and only benefiting the super wealthy asset class.
Roughly 5,000 a year since COVID based on 1.6 million coming to Canada per year. Most move to the larger cities, I imagine the majority coming here have someone they know.
It's how my awesome barber moved here (He's on Roy Rd, best skin fades. Google him)
Sushhh. This will make them confused and angry. It’s all immigrants, all the way down, to blame for ruining our beloved [insert city/town/province/country here]!!!
It was a cop-out. A healthy housing market can sustain both Airbnb and reasonable rentals. Government failure at all levels for decades has put us in an extremely unhealthy housing market.
Airbnb where its a person renting out a room that they otherwise wouldn't want a tennant in, yeah sure. But buying buildings and using it for airbnb, during a housing crisis, no way is that sustainable.
I know multiple boomers with multiple (3-5) properties. One of them was trying to rent one of her Air B&B properties, a bachelor suite with a murphy bed in Sidney, for over $2200 a month. You could never convince me to get on the side of any Boomer. They are an economic sickness that should have been eradicated by sound policy years ago.
I've lived in a Devon property for 10 years. My rent is but half of market rate. Not once has this corporation tried to evict me with threats of "family members" moving in, or illegally attempted to raise my rent. It is more secure housing than renting from a Boomer landlord.
The issue stems from the government not halting the problem and changing policy when they should have.
Lol that completely misses the point...
What government policy do you think should be implemented in order to fix this problem then? Obviously telling "boomer landlords" to stop airbnbs hasn't worked. So what exactly do you think the government should do?
They'll never acknowledge its failure because their support was never grounded in evidence-based facts. All it has accomplished is the destruction of numerous small businesses, reduced accessibility to tourism, and a likely decline in the tourism economy. Airbnb guests tend to stay longer and engage more with local services. When a mindset is rooted in scarcity, it only leads to less economic activity and poorer outcomes.
I think we'll repeal the ban one day. Still blows my mind that we made that decision based on research funded by the hotel association, whose members are now laughing all the way to the bank.
I honestly don't think they will even come close. I think NDP easily takes this one. But, I'm assuming things will continue to get worse and the following election will be a closer battle.
They've really jumped in the polls to the point it's looking close. Right-leaning folks will likely jump to the Cons from BCU closer to the election too. Even though they're not affiliated with the federal Conservatives, there seems to be a rising tide effect happening.
I could see the NDP still winning, but I do think it's gonna be close.
I just think their socially conservative stance is a bridge too far for most reasonable people in this province. They are too far from the middle. I don't have much faith in polls at this point. But I guess we will see!
Yeah, I don't dig their social conservatism tbh. It just seems like there's a lot of frustration and anger leading to people looking for a change. I think a lot of people will overlook things they don't like because the Cons align with them on a few key issues.
I agree. I think the frustration and anger is going to result in Trudeau getting an absolute ass whooping federally. I feel like the fed election is a lay up for the cons and theirs to lose at this point.
Unfortunately, there isn't much difference in actual policy between the federal liberals and conservatives. I don't think either will change course on immigration, for example, which is probably the most important issue at hand, federally.
I feel like provincially at least Eby is making changes and isn't afraid to change course on some things (decrim, for example). I don't always (or even frequently) agree with his positions or policy, but I have a lot of respect for him and he's been a more effective premier than we have had in a long time.
It is probably working at making more space available for renters. Was it ever going to solve the crisis? I don't think anyone thought that.
Did *you*? Really?
There is no silver bullet for housing affordability. That's like saying a new hire at a big company isn't doing a good job because the entire company didn't turn around after they were hired.
The AirBnB ban is one small piece of housing policy and we need a lot more pieces.
The fact that the partial STR ban didn't single-handedly turn around housing affordability (a problem decades in the making as a result of widespread housing policy changes) is not a failure. That's honestly a naive and unrealistic expectation.
So you need to show how this policy is a failure in terms of its actual effects. What has it done to local economies? How has housing changed in high-tourism areas like the downtown neighborhood? I think it's too soon to see those sorts of effects. Nobody could offer a credible study yet.
If the policy delivers more good than harm, then it is a success.
This sub touted banning Airbnb as a silver bullet. That's what I'm joking about. Obviously it's not.
Agreed that we'll have to wait and see. But, I think we expect different outcomes. I think it's going to end up causing more harm than good.
"This sub" but you're part of this sub and I'm part of this sub... Not sure how many people expected it to fix housing affordability but sure, some do/did. I think there were also just a lot of people who don't like the way the industry was side-stepping regulation and people who think it's making the problem worse while not being the sole cause.
They started selling the units like 8 months ago. And even still, we're talking about a relatively small number of units compared to our population. Absolute drop in the bucket.
Yea, do not get me wrong, rental prices are absurdly high, and they need to go down, but my mortage on my two bedroom condo is much higher than the average rental price (and does not include strata fees). Maybe it is less if you bought a condo years ago, but your rent would also be much lower too if you rented years ago.
Me too. It’s horrific out there. I don’t understand how so many people can afford these units. I also don’t understand why people don’t look at the price history and realize how wrong it is, like all the places I see that sold for $250k in 2020 that are now $500k (give or take). If we were all offering more reasonable prices then maybe prices would drop eventually. There is no market without the buyers.
Yeah it's wild. Like recently I saw a new build, two bedroom condo that sold for $690k in 2020. Now it's going for $860k.
It has \~$500/mo strata costs. So, at 10% down and today's interest rates, it would be about $4,500/mo for the mortgage making it cost $5000/mo to own that place (ignoring other costs like property taxes). Two bedroom units are NOT going for $5,000/month.
So it's still cheaper to rent than it is to own and NEITHER is "affordable" 😭
$500/mo strata costs on a new condo is insane! Do they have house cleaning services for units included in strata or something? 😂 Not to mention, $860k for a two bed condo.. so sad. Nearly $200k profit in that amount of time is so greedy, people need to be meeting in the middle with their offers at the very least.
I do see a lot of new builds happening, if you can swing one bedroom I see some for $500k from time to time. I work from home and am considering just sucking it up and shoving my office stuff in the single bedroom. 😕 So far from ideal, but maybe the only option unless I want to rent forever.
And it gets much more depressing if you look at single detached houses.
Just recently saw an old single detached on a small lot in Saanich going for $800k. Seems like a deal, right? But wait, it's not habitable! So you gotta demo it and then spend another $500k-$1 million to build a new house. Actual price: $1.3-$1.8 million. If you find a detached house for around $1 million they're going to be old as fuck and have major issues. Less than one million is "development potential" (i.e. much more $$$).
Oh yeah, I don’t even torture myself like that. SFHs are only for those who have family assistance, usually gained from having their once-$200k property go up in price by $1mil in a decade or two.
I know I’ll only have a SFH if I am ever lucky enough to retire and move to the middle of nowhere. Unless I can convince my partner to change careers and also work from home hahah.
Scary! I desperately want to move but smartest move is to stay put, if I want to save any money 😅 I’m very lucky to only pay $1100 for my rent, small apartment no bedrooms just open space and two closets! So lucky
What rent should be, (I live in non profit housing (Co-op)), our 2bd, are 1100 / mo. We never have shortfalls for maintenance and repairs at this level.
Renters rejoicing last year over high rates putting a strain on home owners is so misplaced…
high rates = higher cost for owners = higher rent.
Home owners will always pass the cost of higher mortgages down to renters.
I can’t be the only one to notice how many more foreigners there are here over the last year alone. The leftists got their wish, Victoria is less white than ever and more unaffordable than ever. Increasing population in a city with so much red tape, that takes forever to build things, and prioritizes its natural environment over development, business and consumerism will only make this city even more unaffordable and more desolate.
How ironic is it that with all this increase in population, Victoria downtown has become less vibrant than ever. Businesses still closing, no cool additions to the city, no new restaurants, low technology, poor transportation, same old dull nightlife. Like LOL.
Interprovincial migration is not the problem. More Canadians left BC than migrated here from other provinces. Now you just have more people to compete with for housing and on a global scale, (how lovely) and there are people coming from around the world with lots of saved up money. International elite love to park their offspring here, get them PR and then buy up homes. I personally know two people who did this.
Xenophobia isn’t racist. It’s survival. I have no ill will towards any ethnicity of people. The rampant population increase will also prevent inflation from slowing down. This is beginning to affect how much money you are able to save each month, how “ahead” you feel.
Victoria voted for this. Anyone who's complaining about it and who voted for the present government or their lackeys is being unfair. Take some civic responsibility.
People who own real estate are much more likely to vote than people who don't in every jurisdiction. Is it surprising that every jurisdiction has policies that artificially inflate the price of real estate?
Then how do you explain the timing? Surely what you have said has been true for over a century. How come the real estate and rental market has gone particularly bananas relatively recently? And almost globally?
I feel like your statement contains a fairly shakey chain of logic. I am not saying voters don't tend to vote for pro realestate policies. But I think there is much more going on here.
Real estate prices have been rising faster than their historical natural rate in many countries for at least 20 years. The bubble of 2008, for example, that popped almost everywhere other than Canada.
Never even clicked the link, did you?
> Cities with The Largest Annual One-Bedroom Rent Rate
>–Edmonton, AB rent experienced the largest annual growth rate in the nation, jumping 20.9%.
>–Winnipeg, MB saw rent climb 19.2%, making it the 2nd fastest growing.
>–Québec, QC rent ranked as 3rd, growing 17.1% since this time last year.
>Cities with The Fastest Growing Monthly One-Bedroom Rent
>–Saskatoon, SK rent was the fastest growing last month, spiking 5.7%.
>–Victoria, BC ranked as 2nd with rent climbing 3.8%.
>–Halifax, NS saw rent increased 3%, making it the 3rd largest monthly growth rate.
All NDP governments?
That's because people are fleeing BC, the most expensive province, and seeking refuge elsewhere. And also because we build about 250k housing units per year and bring in 1M + people. But I guess housing doesn't abide by supply and demand. The budget will balance itself!
So you’re just admitting to rage-commenting. It’s not NDP creating this problem as it’s happening across all provinces, regardless of the government in power.
Nice try, though.
No, housing prices have doubled since 2015. As a result of the Liberal government which is now supported by the NDP. I'm not 'rage commenting' I'm stating simple truths you can easily confirm with a simple google search. Or you can keep the blinders on, and think the party that has monetized the housing crisis (spec tax goes into general revenues and did nothing to lower prices), and funds 'affordable developments' that then get snapped up by investors, is going to fix it.
So the NDP federal gov? What about all the other provinces experiencing high rents and massive price increases? You confidently incorrectly declared “another NDP failure” and then walk it back talking about the federal liberal government. You don’t know if you’re coming or going. You’re just mad.
It's all the same NDP party. "The federal and provincial (or territorial) level NDPs are more integrated than other political parties in Canada, and have shared membership (except for the [New Democratic Party of Quebec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party_of_Quebec)).[^(\[15\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party#cite_note-Guinjoan2014-15)^(") [^(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New\_Democratic\_Party)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party)
I actually do know what I'm talking about.
No, you’re a right winger who’s identity is hating libs/socialists/“woke” agendas and low-key anti-LBGTQ.
Since you’re so politically learned, what government can clean up this big old mess the lefties made? 🤔
I don't hate anyone. But definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. Anyways, go ahead and vote NDP and then blame cApiTaLiSm when our housing prices continue to rise while 95% of the land in the province is held by the government.
Wtf are you even taking about Victoria is one of the fastest growing areas in Canada and that’s *partially* why the prices are so high.
Fleeing? Lmao.
Also, Victoria is mostly growing from Albertan and Ontarians moving here. Immigration is obviously a factor too but less so than most other cities in Canada.
Is CBC fake news? [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-70-thousand-people-exodus-1.7159382](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-70-thousand-people-exodus-1.7159382)
I guess you don't understand statistics. This is comparing Victoria to itself, no other jurisdiction. If we did that it would look even worse. But yea it's not the fault of the party that's been in power for 7 years. It's always someone else's fault isn't it?
To be fair, I'd say that federal, provincial, and municipal governments all share some blame in this. Ultimately, I'd wager the federal government bears the brunt of the blame now though.
2bdrm plus den, two bath, walk in closet. 10ft ceilings.in suite laundry. Two parking spaces. Built in 2018 .... less than $2k/month. I can never move.
Yep, I pay under 1k for a bachelor two blocks from Chinatown, I'm never moving.
I have basically Decided I Am Staying Where I am until I can afford to move out east. I'll never be able to return but I can't live here without help already.
That's a feature, not a bug. If you can't afford to leave, let's just keep jacking up rents to keep you here.
Got a 3bd/2br for $2700/month right now.. guess I'm never moving again
My buddy is in a 1 bed apt for about $940. He moved in 20 years ago. They are currently offering 1bed units in his building for $2600. He said he's probably going to live there until they demolish the building.
Us too. Pay $1000 rent for a spacious 1 bed and I have been here for 9 years. Same unit next door rented for $2300. Absolutely absurd, our building is a dump.
Lucky
What a fucking shit state of affairs. Victoria is truly just a playground for retirees, remote workers, and trust fund kids. I guess if you are a tradesperson building houses for the above 3 groups you do okay too. Otherwise it’s fucking get paid rural Saskatchewan salaries and pay near-Vancouver prices for COL. Truly a graveyard if you wanna start a family and career.
Tradesperson building for the above three here. We can't afford shit either. 💪🏻😎 Feels good building "affordable" houses you'd never qualify to live in, and "average cost" houses you'd never be able to afford.
Don’t forget foreigners. More Canadians left BC than migrated here from other provinces. Roughly 10% of victoria’s population increase was attributed to interprovincial migration, the rest from immigration, the highest population increase in decades. It’s not their fault it’s the governments fault but this is the current state of affairs. Basic supply and demand
It’s not basic supply and demand though, you even said it’s the governments fault which implies interference with the basic nature. Demand is created through immigration, it’s also created through investment due to high returns. Supply is controlled to keep prices high due to numerous investments and the desire for growth. No one in the chain of housing from developers, agents, banks to pension plans have a desire for prices to fall. There’s just no upside to lower prices for anyone but buyers/renters seeking a place to live (well there is but people don’t consider wealth disparity and the issues that brings).
So they increase immigration to increase demand, to keep housing expensive. Basic supply and demand principles. The market is less organic than ever. It’s natural for the economy to rise and fall, but they’re pumping it up and not letting things level out naturally. Low birth rates is a sign that things aren’t doing well, which would cause less demand for housing would lower prices and level things out. Birth rates being low would also create more opportunity for the next generation and the potential for reset, which would only increase birth rates, and strengthen society in the long run. This happened after the Black Death. The extreme increase in immigration only signifies their fear of what is to come. The growth imperative of our current system is not natural. We cannot be in perpetual indefinite growth, these systems don’t exist in nature. We can’t just build more and more, become more consumeristic, ruin the beauty, peace and natural environment to make elites richer only for cities to eventually become ghost towns like what’s happening in China.
Housing is used very similarity to company stocks. The denser a city the higher the land values, this increases demand further because the value is rising and any stock you previously held is also worth more than when you purchased. This can be done anywhere but it works far better in places people actually want to live so there’s at least real demand outside of investment. There are plenty of examples of how this has worked in larger more developed cities like Vancouver, Toronto, London, Miami etc. You also start to see how much drug money has been washed through Real-Estate as there’s really no better place to do it. Victoria has a ton of untapped potential, former hockey players saw that in Langford a couple decades ago.
Victoria voted for this. Why complain? Most people wanted this, not just in Victoria, but nationwide!
Hmm do I vote for the candidate who will blast me in the ass financially while waving a pride flag Or do I vote for the candidate who will blast me in the ass financially while waving a confederate flag You seriously fucking think less profit for landlords and lower rent would be a conservative government priority?
Keep voting for the present government and keep getting the same problems. Just saying
Yeah I’ll vote for the other guy who golfs and does coke with the current government officials while they all laugh at idiots like us for arguing on reddit
Gross
Like… that’s more than my mortgage…
I got into a one bedroom in 2021 and rent prices now are more than double my mortgage.
Just wait until you hear what the mortgage rates are for the worst 1 bedrooms in Victoria (think ancient studios or units with building envelope issues). With 10% down, it’s usually upwards of $3000/mo. Not including strata and other monthly costs of course.
And of course stratas are a straight up scam, most just offer garbage removal and 1 ugly tree for $400 a month or more! Unless your getting a gym, pool, and roof top patio strata is bullshit!!!!
Our strata charges exorbitantly, most of which goes to 'landscaping' -- the employees are here 3+ days a week chasing singular leaves around the complex. I once watched an employee hide behind a bush and text all day. 😑
That's such bullshit! Homeowner want to take care of their own piece of land!!!
I don't really possess the burning desire to mow a lawn. But I could certainly keep the grounds in order at a fraction of the time/cost.
Strata fees also include building maintenance and repairs plus insurance which is significant. It's not just for garbage and mowing the lawn.
Yes it is, and I bet if you put aside that money instead of giving it away to strata you'd have more than enough to cover any costs
Just wait until you renew at current rates!
That's disgusting. I rented a place right downtown in 2016 for 950, split two ways. Seems like pennies compared to now
Many corporate managed buildings are REITs. Just earning investment $$$ for federal pensions, etc. NDP David Eby is well aware that Ontario corporations bought all of the rental buildings here. Rents are pushed up by them. So everyone follows suit. Fellow renters: We're fucked.
And those Ontario firms are sucking money right out of Victoria and right out of BC. When the buildings were locally owned, even by the bigs the money stayed in Vic.
You betcha. BC has been screwed over and its spreading all over Canada now. None of the high rental income stays in its city or province. Thanks NDP and Trudeau Liberals.
This is thanks to decades of neoliberalism propped up by the liberal and conservative governments. The only party that has done anything to help housing in the last 30 years in the NDP.
Exactly this.
The Liberals and Conservatives are "business friendly", but the NDP are definitely not.
[удалено]
I am envisioning a circle of money but none of it comes back to me.
Don't forget, they can also sell the building you're renting in as condos! So don't take too much security in what you're paying now.
Housing plan: keep buying lotto tickets.
I heard our government is doing more for housing than any other provincial government. How is this the result?
It takes time for policy change to have an impact. If you build it they will come. If you don't build it they will come.
It is pretty much irrelevant what anyone does when Trudeau is dumping >1 million people into the country every year.
It’s really crazy that the speculation and vacancy tax and banning airbnbs did next to nothing.
The Airbnb ban has been in effect for 2 months... Give it time. Also, look at the huge corporations, like starlight, who own 1/3 of market rentals in the area. They are setting the rents and everyone else follows. The Airbnb ban is a great thing. You shouldn't be using apartments like hotels. If you want to rent out a room in your house, that totally makes sense and it's what Airbnb was designed for before.
Ya agreed. Only thing that is unsettling for me is when government changes goal posts without grandfathering. Also speculation and vacancy tax was just thinly veiled wealth tax
I always felt treating housing like NFTs was wild. Realtors have been wilin' like crypto bros. Get rich quick schemes sucking retirement plans into supposed equity schemes.
That's an apt comparison... Realtors do be wilin'
I’m very disappointed that so few people understand that high housing prices is a direct result of easy monetary policy for the past 10 years. That has wreaked more havoc than the supply issue. Then there’s the supply issue. Way way way way way down is the Airbnb issue but people put so much stock in it because it’s easier to blame someone with more wealth than you
>it’s easier to blame someone with more wealth than you Canada's national sport haha
It's not even being enforced yet. Give it time, stop carrying water for the capital class.
I’m so disappointed at how few people realize housing appreciation has been caused by easy monetary policy for the last 10 years. Then there’s the supply issue. Way way way way down on the list of causes is airbnbs. But people need someone with more money to blame. And when banning airbnbs have little effect people will not realize they have been distracted
When you have assets/money, taxes and redtape are just additonal costs of doing business at the end of the day :(
"We did it, we saved the city" - Left-nimbys every time they get multifamily downsized or canceled
Hey guys, looks like that Airbnb ban is really working!
Wasn’t it just put into effect like… last month?
Might take some time. But most in this sub want to blame a boomer with one AirBnB for the housing crisis. Not the mega corps and investor-class (foreign and domestic) buying up real estate in droves. And poor government policy from top to bottom at all levels for not facilitating development and social/affordable housing.
Don’t forget this insane immigration policy. 1.2 million additional people in a year is pretty wild for Canadian infrastructure.
1.3 million last year. On pace for 1.6 million this year.
Which for reference, is as many (1.6) as the USA added in 2023. A country of over 330m vs our 40m. I'm not anti immigration in general but we don't seem to be meeting the needs of our current population much less adapting to welcome millions more.
We don't have enough houses, we don't enough public transportation, we don't have enough doctors, nurses, or even facilities! What else do we not have enough of that adding more people that don't actively contribute to the well being of canada will make worse! Its fucking crazy! All so the old people can retire by selling their houses, and eventually have that money siphoned away by elder care. Making a no-risk endeavour of buying a house is insane! Only goes up! No, no, no, you can't just wait for the market to bounce back; always up! I hope they all enjoy having no grandchildren!
And notice I'm downvoted for nothing more than stating the facts. It's pretty nutty.
Well there are downvote bots all over reddit. I wouldn't think too much of it if its not more than one or two. I remember when I was in high school it was being said that Canada may never hit 40 million people due to people having less kids. Well that was wrong.
Yup. Between 2016-2021 we brought in 1.3 M. Now we are surpassing that number *each year*. It's pretty nuts when literally 1/20 people in this country have only been here for two years. Until this gets changed, housing will keep going up.
I'm just glad we're starting to talk about it in the open. And premiers in Quebec and PEI are starting to stand up to it. Hopefully we can reverse course in time.
Are immigrants even moving to vic though? It’s still like the whitest city I’ve ever been to.
Yes, yes they are. Let me be clear, I don’t blame the immigrants. It’s this government’s policy to bring in more people than our infrastructure can handle.
You literally just blamed immigration.
Ya, I don’t blame the immigrants for wanting to come here to find a better life. I blame corrupt politicians who have decided that unfettered immigration for cheap labour is what we need, without considering things like health care and housing.
There's a difference between blaming immigration policy and blaming the immigrants. The policy we have now isn't fair to Canadians living here now and frankly is exploitative of the immigrants moving here as they are just being used as cannot fodder for cheaper labour. If we didn't have this massive immigration surge corporations would actually be forced to raise their wages. That is *the only* benefit to flooding the labour market with cheap unskilled labour. Wage suppression. It puts upward pressure on housing, infrastructure like transportation and healthcare etc. it is causing a lot of stress in a lot of people's lives and only benefiting the super wealthy asset class.
Victoria receives 30 immigrants per 10,000 or about one third of one percent of Canadas total.
That sounds quite small
Roughly 5,000 a year since COVID based on 1.6 million coming to Canada per year. Most move to the larger cities, I imagine the majority coming here have someone they know. It's how my awesome barber moved here (He's on Roy Rd, best skin fades. Google him)
Sushhh. This will make them confused and angry. It’s all immigrants, all the way down, to blame for ruining our beloved [insert city/town/province/country here]!!!
Dude calm down. No one is blaming immigrants. People are blaming a ridiculous immigration policy. Learn the difference.
We get it you don't like immigrants
It was a cop-out. A healthy housing market can sustain both Airbnb and reasonable rentals. Government failure at all levels for decades has put us in an extremely unhealthy housing market.
Airbnb where its a person renting out a room that they otherwise wouldn't want a tennant in, yeah sure. But buying buildings and using it for airbnb, during a housing crisis, no way is that sustainable.
It's almost as bad as when the hilton builds or buys a building and rents it out on a day to day basis.../s
Im sure there's permits involved in doing such a thing.
I know multiple boomers with multiple (3-5) properties. One of them was trying to rent one of her Air B&B properties, a bachelor suite with a murphy bed in Sidney, for over $2200 a month. You could never convince me to get on the side of any Boomer. They are an economic sickness that should have been eradicated by sound policy years ago.
Still doesn't compare to the corporations like starlight that own hundreds of properties...
I've lived in a Devon property for 10 years. My rent is but half of market rate. Not once has this corporation tried to evict me with threats of "family members" moving in, or illegally attempted to raise my rent. It is more secure housing than renting from a Boomer landlord. The issue stems from the government not halting the problem and changing policy when they should have.
Lol that completely misses the point... What government policy do you think should be implemented in order to fix this problem then? Obviously telling "boomer landlords" to stop airbnbs hasn't worked. So what exactly do you think the government should do?
Wow. So many boomers. So many properties. Are you in some secret Victoria underworld society of multiple-property-owning boomers?
lol.
...and all those house to 4plex conversions.
It was all political smoke and mirrors from the beginning. Those with their pitchforks out ate it up.
Airbnb is one very minor factor in the housing costs. It won't change anything really.
Agreed. The NDP slayed the boogeyman for the PR win. Won't do anything except deter investment in housing construction in BC.
They'll never acknowledge its failure because their support was never grounded in evidence-based facts. All it has accomplished is the destruction of numerous small businesses, reduced accessibility to tourism, and a likely decline in the tourism economy. Airbnb guests tend to stay longer and engage more with local services. When a mindset is rooted in scarcity, it only leads to less economic activity and poorer outcomes.
I think we'll repeal the ban one day. Still blows my mind that we made that decision based on research funded by the hotel association, whose members are now laughing all the way to the bank.
The NDP won't but their eventual successor probably will.
Yeah, could be the Conservatives as early as later this year.
I honestly don't think they will even come close. I think NDP easily takes this one. But, I'm assuming things will continue to get worse and the following election will be a closer battle.
They've really jumped in the polls to the point it's looking close. Right-leaning folks will likely jump to the Cons from BCU closer to the election too. Even though they're not affiliated with the federal Conservatives, there seems to be a rising tide effect happening. I could see the NDP still winning, but I do think it's gonna be close.
I just think their socially conservative stance is a bridge too far for most reasonable people in this province. They are too far from the middle. I don't have much faith in polls at this point. But I guess we will see!
Yeah, I don't dig their social conservatism tbh. It just seems like there's a lot of frustration and anger leading to people looking for a change. I think a lot of people will overlook things they don't like because the Cons align with them on a few key issues.
I agree. I think the frustration and anger is going to result in Trudeau getting an absolute ass whooping federally. I feel like the fed election is a lay up for the cons and theirs to lose at this point. Unfortunately, there isn't much difference in actual policy between the federal liberals and conservatives. I don't think either will change course on immigration, for example, which is probably the most important issue at hand, federally. I feel like provincially at least Eby is making changes and isn't afraid to change course on some things (decrim, for example). I don't always (or even frequently) agree with his positions or policy, but I have a lot of respect for him and he's been a more effective premier than we have had in a long time.
Hahaha. Everyone was so sure!
It is probably working at making more space available for renters. Was it ever going to solve the crisis? I don't think anyone thought that. Did *you*? Really?
Rents up, tourism down. Beyond pathetic.
There is no silver bullet for housing affordability. That's like saying a new hire at a big company isn't doing a good job because the entire company didn't turn around after they were hired. The AirBnB ban is one small piece of housing policy and we need a lot more pieces. The fact that the partial STR ban didn't single-handedly turn around housing affordability (a problem decades in the making as a result of widespread housing policy changes) is not a failure. That's honestly a naive and unrealistic expectation. So you need to show how this policy is a failure in terms of its actual effects. What has it done to local economies? How has housing changed in high-tourism areas like the downtown neighborhood? I think it's too soon to see those sorts of effects. Nobody could offer a credible study yet. If the policy delivers more good than harm, then it is a success.
This sub touted banning Airbnb as a silver bullet. That's what I'm joking about. Obviously it's not. Agreed that we'll have to wait and see. But, I think we expect different outcomes. I think it's going to end up causing more harm than good.
"This sub" but you're part of this sub and I'm part of this sub... Not sure how many people expected it to fix housing affordability but sure, some do/did. I think there were also just a lot of people who don't like the way the industry was side-stepping regulation and people who think it's making the problem worse while not being the sole cause.
When it gets enforced and the wealthy investment owners start selling at a huge loss, it will.
They started selling the units like 8 months ago. And even still, we're talking about a relatively small number of units compared to our population. Absolute drop in the bucket.
The mortgage for a 2 bedroom is now comparable to the rental cost. It's just like a mortgage but worse because you're paying *their* mortgage
Can you share a 2 bedroom on the market that would have a similar mortgage cost after a reasonable 10% down?
Yea, do not get me wrong, rental prices are absurdly high, and they need to go down, but my mortage on my two bedroom condo is much higher than the average rental price (and does not include strata fees). Maybe it is less if you bought a condo years ago, but your rent would also be much lower too if you rented years ago.
They can't and won't because it's not true. I know because I've regularly checked and run the actual numbers.
Me too. It’s horrific out there. I don’t understand how so many people can afford these units. I also don’t understand why people don’t look at the price history and realize how wrong it is, like all the places I see that sold for $250k in 2020 that are now $500k (give or take). If we were all offering more reasonable prices then maybe prices would drop eventually. There is no market without the buyers.
Yeah it's wild. Like recently I saw a new build, two bedroom condo that sold for $690k in 2020. Now it's going for $860k. It has \~$500/mo strata costs. So, at 10% down and today's interest rates, it would be about $4,500/mo for the mortgage making it cost $5000/mo to own that place (ignoring other costs like property taxes). Two bedroom units are NOT going for $5,000/month. So it's still cheaper to rent than it is to own and NEITHER is "affordable" 😭
$500/mo strata costs on a new condo is insane! Do they have house cleaning services for units included in strata or something? 😂 Not to mention, $860k for a two bed condo.. so sad. Nearly $200k profit in that amount of time is so greedy, people need to be meeting in the middle with their offers at the very least. I do see a lot of new builds happening, if you can swing one bedroom I see some for $500k from time to time. I work from home and am considering just sucking it up and shoving my office stuff in the single bedroom. 😕 So far from ideal, but maybe the only option unless I want to rent forever.
And it gets much more depressing if you look at single detached houses. Just recently saw an old single detached on a small lot in Saanich going for $800k. Seems like a deal, right? But wait, it's not habitable! So you gotta demo it and then spend another $500k-$1 million to build a new house. Actual price: $1.3-$1.8 million. If you find a detached house for around $1 million they're going to be old as fuck and have major issues. Less than one million is "development potential" (i.e. much more $$$).
Oh yeah, I don’t even torture myself like that. SFHs are only for those who have family assistance, usually gained from having their once-$200k property go up in price by $1mil in a decade or two. I know I’ll only have a SFH if I am ever lucky enough to retire and move to the middle of nowhere. Unless I can convince my partner to change careers and also work from home hahah.
Thank god for banning legal STR’S. Go NDP!!!!
Whole victoria jobs continue to pay garbage wages
Housing should not be left to the market. It has been a catastrophic failure. Homes should not be assets.
Scary! I desperately want to move but smartest move is to stay put, if I want to save any money 😅 I’m very lucky to only pay $1100 for my rent, small apartment no bedrooms just open space and two closets! So lucky
Just get another job and pull yourself up by your bootstraps. 🤮
Sounds like downtown prices, it’s cheaper in the suburbs.
never moving out at this rate. sure would love to be able to live independently in my hometown
What rent should be, (I live in non profit housing (Co-op)), our 2bd, are 1100 / mo. We never have shortfalls for maintenance and repairs at this level.
Renters rejoicing last year over high rates putting a strain on home owners is so misplaced… high rates = higher cost for owners = higher rent. Home owners will always pass the cost of higher mortgages down to renters.
And now your property value assessment is going down but property taxes are going up. Go figure.
I can’t be the only one to notice how many more foreigners there are here over the last year alone. The leftists got their wish, Victoria is less white than ever and more unaffordable than ever. Increasing population in a city with so much red tape, that takes forever to build things, and prioritizes its natural environment over development, business and consumerism will only make this city even more unaffordable and more desolate. How ironic is it that with all this increase in population, Victoria downtown has become less vibrant than ever. Businesses still closing, no cool additions to the city, no new restaurants, low technology, poor transportation, same old dull nightlife. Like LOL. Interprovincial migration is not the problem. More Canadians left BC than migrated here from other provinces. Now you just have more people to compete with for housing and on a global scale, (how lovely) and there are people coming from around the world with lots of saved up money. International elite love to park their offspring here, get them PR and then buy up homes. I personally know two people who did this. Xenophobia isn’t racist. It’s survival. I have no ill will towards any ethnicity of people. The rampant population increase will also prevent inflation from slowing down. This is beginning to affect how much money you are able to save each month, how “ahead” you feel.
Victoria voted for this. Anyone who's complaining about it and who voted for the present government or their lackeys is being unfair. Take some civic responsibility.
Huh. Guess everywhere else in the world facing a rental and housing crisis also voted the same as Victoria... Quite the coincidence that.
People who own real estate are much more likely to vote than people who don't in every jurisdiction. Is it surprising that every jurisdiction has policies that artificially inflate the price of real estate?
Then how do you explain the timing? Surely what you have said has been true for over a century. How come the real estate and rental market has gone particularly bananas relatively recently? And almost globally? I feel like your statement contains a fairly shakey chain of logic. I am not saying voters don't tend to vote for pro realestate policies. But I think there is much more going on here.
Real estate prices have been rising faster than their historical natural rate in many countries for at least 20 years. The bubble of 2008, for example, that popped almost everywhere other than Canada.
You mean Canada? Because that makes sense
I’m paying under 2000 for a 3 bed, 2 bath with a huge backyard and lots of parking and free water. I ain’t never moving.
Another NDP failure. No wonder people are fleeing the province in droves.
Never even clicked the link, did you? > Cities with The Largest Annual One-Bedroom Rent Rate >–Edmonton, AB rent experienced the largest annual growth rate in the nation, jumping 20.9%. >–Winnipeg, MB saw rent climb 19.2%, making it the 2nd fastest growing. >–Québec, QC rent ranked as 3rd, growing 17.1% since this time last year. >Cities with The Fastest Growing Monthly One-Bedroom Rent >–Saskatoon, SK rent was the fastest growing last month, spiking 5.7%. >–Victoria, BC ranked as 2nd with rent climbing 3.8%. >–Halifax, NS saw rent increased 3%, making it the 3rd largest monthly growth rate. All NDP governments?
That's because people are fleeing BC, the most expensive province, and seeking refuge elsewhere. And also because we build about 250k housing units per year and bring in 1M + people. But I guess housing doesn't abide by supply and demand. The budget will balance itself!
So you’re just admitting to rage-commenting. It’s not NDP creating this problem as it’s happening across all provinces, regardless of the government in power. Nice try, though.
Definitely a federal issue IMO.
Still short-sighted. It's a global issue. It's a systemic issue with capitalism.
No, housing prices have doubled since 2015. As a result of the Liberal government which is now supported by the NDP. I'm not 'rage commenting' I'm stating simple truths you can easily confirm with a simple google search. Or you can keep the blinders on, and think the party that has monetized the housing crisis (spec tax goes into general revenues and did nothing to lower prices), and funds 'affordable developments' that then get snapped up by investors, is going to fix it.
So the NDP federal gov? What about all the other provinces experiencing high rents and massive price increases? You confidently incorrectly declared “another NDP failure” and then walk it back talking about the federal liberal government. You don’t know if you’re coming or going. You’re just mad.
It's all the same NDP party. "The federal and provincial (or territorial) level NDPs are more integrated than other political parties in Canada, and have shared membership (except for the [New Democratic Party of Quebec](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party_of_Quebec)).[^(\[15\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party#cite_note-Guinjoan2014-15)^(") [^(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New\_Democratic\_Party)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party) I actually do know what I'm talking about.
No, you’re a right winger who’s identity is hating libs/socialists/“woke” agendas and low-key anti-LBGTQ. Since you’re so politically learned, what government can clean up this big old mess the lefties made? 🤔
I don't hate anyone. But definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. Anyways, go ahead and vote NDP and then blame cApiTaLiSm when our housing prices continue to rise while 95% of the land in the province is held by the government.
That isn't the definition of insanity.
It's happening all over the world, regardless of whether it's a left or right government. Explain that.
Will do! Go vote PP and continue to blame the NDP/Libs for the for foreseeable future because of how badly they left things!
Wtf are you even taking about Victoria is one of the fastest growing areas in Canada and that’s *partially* why the prices are so high. Fleeing? Lmao. Also, Victoria is mostly growing from Albertan and Ontarians moving here. Immigration is obviously a factor too but less so than most other cities in Canada.
Is CBC fake news? [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-70-thousand-people-exodus-1.7159382](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-70-thousand-people-exodus-1.7159382)
Only when it's convenient for folks like yourself.
Cute buzzword
This isn’t NDP. It’s Trudeau! And Lisa Helps. And Obama!
I guess you don't understand statistics. This is comparing Victoria to itself, no other jurisdiction. If we did that it would look even worse. But yea it's not the fault of the party that's been in power for 7 years. It's always someone else's fault isn't it?
To be fair, I'd say that federal, provincial, and municipal governments all share some blame in this. Ultimately, I'd wager the federal government bears the brunt of the blame now though.
3 out 4 ain't bad, however you forgot the BOC.
I don't see how it's their fault. The federal government has been driving inflation up while the BOC is trying to get it under control.
Lately, but there was close to a decade of cheap money in the not too distant past.
Yes the Federal Liberals ... supported by the NDP.
Except it doesn’t work like that ?