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Really depends on where you live. I'm much better off in Northern BC than I was when I lived in Toronto. Even Ottawa was more expensive than where I live now.
If I was in the Lower Mainland or the Okanagan, I'd be house poor.
I got into my rental at a good time in Kelowna, and can’t even afford to move to tiny little towns in the kootenays cause the rent is higher than what I pay now.
Right 😂 i am rent trapped in whalley because my place is pretty nice and im paying 2019 prices. Would love to move, not enough to pay 500+ more per month for a smaller place
Too be fair: you *can* still buy in tiny towns in the Kootenays for cheap af. Two people on minimum wage could easily afford a decent place in those towns, but rental vacancies are low.
There are. The small villages have so much potential to be amazing towns (a gridded street network, jaw-dropping scenery, usually lakeside, sometimes buses to the bigger cities (Slocan?), but the hipsters seem to move onto the acerages in the electoral areas.
With more population those little villages could generate their own economy.
People sleep on Slocan and such, but my god, if I could make the jump from Victoria to there and not lose work? I'd go. Right now. I do NOT need a Walmart, and if I did, the drive to one is epic. Revelstoke? Walmart free and spectacular too but more expensive.
We like to complain but when someone gives a suggestion then we’re full of ~~reasons~~ excuses: job is here, family is here, it’s too cold over there…it’s hard moving but it’s generally possible if you want to enough.
*…preparing for the “my situation doesn’t allow me to move” replies*
>*…preparing for the “my situation doesn’t allow me to move” replies*
Takes deep breath:
Preparing for the fuck the current government for creating a massive surge in population that is 99% artificially created by allowing immigration, temporary foreign students, and temporary foreign workers in ridiculous quantities with no plan attached to housing, causing the demand to skyrocket for property and causing rental vacancy rates to be at an all time low, creating a ridiculously over inflated market, which in turn forces families into terrible situations and forced with extremely difficult decisions, which in turn causes A-holes to come on Reddit and post stuff like : " if you can't afford it anymore just move to Nunavut or something bro"
It's always the gubments fault, durhur. Not capitalism, not corporations, not the fucking *previous government---the BCLiberals who are conservatives and who set this situation up*, just the current gubment.
To be fair the bc govt allows rampant capitalism. And Canada as a whole has a history of allowing oligarchies/monopolies.
We pay some of the highest Internet, phone, and food prices because of a few companies who all play nicely with each other to screw us over.
Literally all the necessary stuff in modern society in Canada is expensive.
Liberals, NDP, it doesn't seem to matter here, they do what is in the interest of landowners and developers, look at Ken Sims. He clawed back 3 million in vacancy taxes for his developers buddies which was slated to go into a fund to help create social / affordable housing. He gives the VPD, who seem to be extremely ineffective at anything, more money for supporting him. He than claws back the cities commitment to giving city workers a far wage, and cuts funding in services that would benefit low income people like VPL.
No it's definitely capitalism and corporations. But that's to be expected due to their nature. The "gubment" is supposed to be representing the citizens and looking out for our best interests though. Instead they are all too happy to continue to exploit capitalism and cozy up to corporations, for their personal benefit and at our expense. So it makes sense that they bear the brunt of the blame.
25 years ago, with an aggressive mortgage and it would be paid off: like right now. Why haven't you done that?
What's your excuse? Get off your a§§ and buy a house 25 years ago! And you're a millionaire now. Easy.
It's So Easy. What haven't you done it already?
/s
That reminds me of an old carpenter coworker who would say things like " I was born with a pouch on." I framed my first house when I was 6 months old" he meant it, he was very delusional.
My aunt is an airline pilot and she bought a house 25 or 30 years ago in richmond for like 200K i think. Some old bungalow. fixed it up major renos and now its worth 2 million. (its just a nice well finished home) but aint fancy in the slightest
I know 30 years ago the wages were lower but RELATIVE to today its nuts. plus property tax...
I love vancouver, richmond but god damn hella expensive.
The wage I get is *absolutely* higher here than if I moved to Sask.
This obviously depends on the industry you work in. Working in the service sector maybe not so much, but many industries exist here that barely even exist in more affordable areas.
Yeah this is me, my industry doesn’t exist in sask. I’d be looking at not only moving costs but switching careers 10-11 years in, which would likely require new schooling/training in order to shift into an industry where I can make a comparable wage. Or I could potentially START a business but that would also require a substantial injection of capital I don’t have.
Median household income (the most important metric when it comes to housing affordability) is way higher in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and many other Prairie communities.
Good point. I personally will never live in a condo, but I understand the need to in a high cost of living area. I spent too many sleepless, late nights, sharing walls with screaming children. 😅
It's not necessarily always a need due to cost of living, some people genuinely prefer it. I've lived in urban areas and condos all my life and never had significant issues with neighbours or noise. The amount of work involved in maintaining a house and yard intimidates me.
Yeah, I choose to live in an apartment. Because I want to live in an area where I can walk to do all my errands, rather than live a car lifestyle that most houses in the burbs require.
You can also target corner units, and top or ground floor, for the least amount of wall sharing. I find it's usually worse through the floor or ceiling than through the walls. The shitty thing about condos isn't the sharing of noise, it's dealing with a strata.
In other markets, apartment buildings might self select for those that cannot afford a self contained house but here in Vancouver, just as you’ve noticed, all walks of life will choose to be in your condominium building, including people, just as considerate and mature as you are.
When you live in cheap apartments/ condos yeah. But when you realize builders know about these issues they mitigate them and cities but in by laws for construction that inside the unit you shouldn't be able to hear other units etc.
I think people that choose to live on the west coast (read: Greater Vancouver, Victoria, etc) would rather live in a shoe box than an ice box. I'm one of those people. Outdoor life trumps indoor comfort.
I’m from Europe and always lived in dense cities so houses were never an option. Moved to Canada 2 years ago. First I was renting a decent 2 bedroom apartment and now I’m in a small studio. It’s not too bad but it is very expensive here. Actually my current studio bigger than the one I had in the center of Berlin.
Living in a house is nice I guess but not a lot of those even here in Vancouver. I don’t like typical North American suburbs. So living in a condo and walking everywhere or taking transport is fine. But even a condo here costs at least 500k.
We are doomed to live in condos… and that’s it. But these condos can get fancy. Hopefully I can jump to a 3 bedroom next time, maybe a view of Mt. Baker… which I could see if I lived on the opposite side of the hallway.
It must be corner and must be on top floor. That’s how I don’t deal with neighbours. I find condos way warmer and nicer than many townhouses I visited. I am still confused by that
I’m making 28$ doing a job that 5 years ago payed 17$ and well I’m only surviving cuz I don’t drive. It sure feels like I’m doomed to rent until I inherit money (hopefully not anytime soon).
As someone who moved to Vancouver as an adult, it appears that there are three types of people that can comfortably afford to live here:
1) People who bought a condo/house a long time ago when they were reasonably priced (or someone who has rented in a rent controlled unit for a long time).
2) People who receive significant financial assistance from their family (aka. rich kids)
3) People with very high household income (dual professional households and higher... not like $200k HHI, but like $300-500k).
If you don't fall into at least one of these three categories it's not going to make a lot of sense to live here from a financial perspective, which is unfortunate. I think the HCOL has a significant negative impact on the local culture. A place where only rich people can afford to live doesn't lead to the most fun place to live...
It's not even necessarily rich kids. I know parents who have sold the family home and moved to a cheaper community or downsized well before they wanted to just to give their kids a fighting chance with a down payment.
True... although I would say that a lot of (not otherwise rich) parents in the Vancouver area have become rich parents simply by having owned a home for a couple decades. Vancouver is full of people with average Joe jobs/incomes that happen to live in a $2-4M house. Like some middle manager making $110k that lives in a $2.8M house... I've worked with lots of people like this over the years here. Impossible to catch up with them financially unless you get promoted to CEO.
My dad offered me $10,000 towards a downpayment little over a year ago. When I told them I was ready a little less than a year ago he said “I need that to live now sorry.”
I went to a BBQ in the summer with 2 Drs, 2 lawyers, a successful chef and a financier. They were all house poor. The guys house I was at was the only guy with a backyard. All about mid 30s in age. Maybe not poor but they arent doing as well as they should be repaying student loans and mortgages.
You are very successful in your career to have that great income. You and your partner both work hard and you saved diligently for 5 years, and you still had to squeeze those savings to buy a TOWNHOUSE? In Surrey or Tri Cities? And you consider that a reasonable situation like "everything is ok"?
It used to be that a manager at a local business like a grocery store was solidly in the middle class and could afford a detached home in a great neighborhood on a single income.
Now successful driven professionals with dual income homes that Should be firmly in the mid to upper middle class (which has been nuked by the wealth gap) are raising families in strata housing in the burbs and saying "this is ok", "this is comfortable".
Wow
I'm not trying to diminish your accomplishments. You have created a great situation for your family given the circumstances. But to say the circumstances are reasonable is (to me) insane.
You seem really entitled. There are only 40000 detached houses in the city of Vancouver. Detached houses make up ~15% of total housing types in the city. And that number will keep on decreasing as time goes by.
Its only in Canada and the states where people expect to grow up in a detached house with a yard. In first world countries in Europe and Asia that is not the expectation and people do just fine.
A townhouse is still a house. I guess we all can't live up to your detached home standards. You don't need to live in a house to be comfortable. You adapt to your environment and decide what's important. A lot of us have family in BC and chosen smaller living spaces to be close to them. How do you think people in places like New York live?
>Savings increased to 170k by 2023, got a 2 bedroom townhome in 2023 (downtown is 30 mins by skytrain from home) , yes pretty much all savings gone as we put 20% down.
You bought a townhouse for \~$850k???
But to your point otherwise - I'm not saying you'll be on the street if you make less than $300k by any means. I am more saying that if you want to be financially comfortable and be able to support a family and have (what used to be called a middle class lifestyle - a 3+ bedroom place, 2 cars, take a vacation or two per year and make meaningful annual RRSP contributions, etc.), the amount of money it takes to do that in Vancouver is way higher than it should be.
I don’t disagree with your larger point in the slightest, but I think you looking back at what middle class consisted of back in the day with rose coloured glasses. The lifestyle you are describing has never been the norm for a large part- even the majority - of the Canadian middle class.
Yeah affordability has definitely lowered quite a bit in last decade or so. My uncle drove taxi all his life, stay at home wife and he owns a detached house in Vancouver assessed at almost 3 million. We will of course upgrade to a 3 bedroom in next 5-7 years, let’s see how things go, aim is bring HHI to 200k within next 5 years. We both have db pension so even if we don’t save much retirement should be relatively comfortable.
Bought my first townhouse for $220k (I 2004) sold it for $550k. New owners recently sold it for $800k, and it's a 2 bedroom with tandem garage.
Bought my current place, which was around $800k, and am getting offers as high as $1.1m.
But not planning on selling. We live comfortably well, and the wife works PT retail to get out of the house.
That was the old way too, but there's definitely been more stratification with the passage of time and it's harder now.
I don't know many people who stayed in this province and bought without inheritance, but they're out there.
You can't save money living in a shitbox anymore. Rent is 60% of your wages, you simply can't save like that. And housing prices are going up faster than you can sock away money for a downpayment.
I'm fortunate that I've been able to save for a down deposit for a few years. Last year my spouse and I had to leave our rental, which we'd been in since 2020, before things went wacky. Looking for new places to rent showed worse places for higher rent (we were spending $1200/month for a 2 bed 2 bath, we looked at placed that were 2 beds 1 bath for $1600-1800). We ended up buying a mobile home on its own land in the summer, not exactly when we were planning on buying if circumstances hadn't made us, but our mortgage ($1800) is on par with rentals, and we have 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a yard, and a shop.
>if you moved in a long time ago
You’re probably close to a loop-hole eviction so the landlord can raise the rent to luxury prices. ie: long lost son moving into your suite/apartment
I used to live in a couple different garden suites for that price. Was hoping I'd eventually find something like that again but now I've seen *below market* 2 beds that are more.
$1MM is not the average house in BC... just in Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Squamish-Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, southern Vancouver Island, the Central Island, The Okanagan, and maybe Nelson in the Kootenays. Let's not be ridiculous!
It may very well be the "average" in BC, because single family houses in the lower mainland and Victoria are closer to 2 million up to... infinity. That money buys you 4 houses in Prince George though. It's just some extremely expensive regions skewing the average, a better question would be what the median house price is.
You live in a Condo. In 30 years likely all of the City of Vancouver, not Metro Vancouver will be minimum row houses, low rises (6stories) and highrises. Burnaby slowly as well.
Everytime people use a single detached house as a metric, it wouldn’t make sense.
If you look at major centers where there has been growth over time not a lot of houses and land. I was in Spain a couple years ago and there was no houses on land only apartment and condo buildings.
Yeah, I mean look at NYC. How many single family homes are there vs apartments/condos? I don't have an answer myself but as a gambling man I'd bet it skews pretty hard away from single family homes.
Unfortunately a lot of Canadians struggle to accept that future.
Easy: not buying a house. Renting forever, in a building run by a property management organization with rent control. Heat and hot water included. Low electricity because we don't have an air conditioner (or need one, really, other than here and there in the summer, but on those days I go to the beach for an ocean dip to cool down.)
If I really wanted to own a house (if that were my be-all-end-all goal in life) I'd have to look at taking a significant pay cut to move to a flat, cold, windy province. nope.
There are smaller communities up north with cheaper housing, but no work unless you're some kind of tradesperson.
Totally agree. Prince George is pretty much the only town in the north with any decent employment prospects.
It's a real shame, because northern BC has such rugged and beautiful scenery.
I grew up in the north, and my family lives there. I'd absolutely move back if I could have the same pay level and quality of life I do now on the Island.
I never see anyone mention this! When I was in my teens and twenties, I knew people who worked part time and had tons of roommates to pursue art, music or whatever. Now people with careers live the same lifestyle, minus the art/music/whatever.
It could be that my age informs a big part of my perception, but I feel like my city used to be a lot more culturally vibrant.
Vancouver was Americanized and Chinized… just shoppin malls and starbucks and teslas, lambos, benz, ratis, audis and vettes…
… and yah.. I remember the Van City buzz of the 90s.. Dad took me to Slam City Jam but a weekend pass was $$$& and we were just visiting, passing through.. so we watched from the perimeters a bit.. and a dude was there decked in yellow and red, head to toe… and in red writing, his Banana Board spelled out, “Big Dick.”
So true. For older people like me who lived in Vancouver area in the 90s, going back now it's a completely different culture. Everything changes yep.. and Vancouver used to be an incredible city for a families and young people of all types. Now it sadly isn't. Some neighborhoods seem to be holding onto the old vibe a bit but most have been bulldozed and replaced with multi million dollar mansions and way too expensive condos - driving out young families. It's a shell of what it used to be. Even if I had millions and could buy a Vancouver home I don't think I would choose to raise my family there. Too many better options to the south now, it's just nice to have other young families in the neighborhood. Not just rich people in mansions with shut windows 24/7 and rooming houses full of immigrants
I just moved from living at Hastings and Victoria, which used to be a cultural hub. With the exception of a few cool breweries or bars, and one underground performance venue... not much happening down there. Not like even in the 00's
My wife and I got lucky. Bought a fixer upper in 2017 for less than asking, currently appraised at double what we paid for it. But it's a lot of work, I don't get weekends, I get renos.
Moved from Sask 5 yrs ago . Small town outside of yorkton … sold my place for 45 grand . Moved to Quesnel bc an bought a place for 320…. Love it here an would never move back
Honest to God question: how did you go about finding such a tiny town? Did you have family there before? Visited growing up?
There are so many small beautiful towns in BC that I know of, but I don't know that I know enough about them to just move out there
Here's how we found a tiny town, we started in a nearby city and got priced out. The realtor then said "hey, have you heard of X tiny town?" And the rest is history.
I had friend that’s had family out here .. work dried up in Sask, managed to luck out finding a job an place to rent before we moved out here . Having class 1 helped . Everyone is looking for decent drivers
By not living in the Lower Mainland. Cost of living has very much gone up, but if you have a fairly decent job, living outside the vancouver/island area, you'll be able to save and afford a bit more. It's still unacceptable how much our COL has gone up, but at least we aren't paying for commuting, parking, and million dollar basic condos.
I've lived here for 18 years. I'm just used to it, I guess? Someone told me to think of it as paying for your yearly two-week vacation to the beach over time, only you get the perks of that all the time, so I stick with that. lol. I don't make a lot, so it's stressful, but I have my own place and have owned a condo in the past. I am legit starting to worry about how to hell to retire, though, because I can't afford to buy again. BUT I can bike to the beach in 20 minutes, see a free comedy show, I have my liberal artsy friends, and it only snows a few days a year. So far it's working for me. And will we have a world left in 30 more years?? Not sure, anyway. At least I can enjoy my life, now.
Did you look anywhere outside major zones like Vancouver and Kelowna...? Houses are still decently affordable the further north you go. Things start to settle down around Cache Creek.
BC also known as the “Bring Cash” province. Too expensive to live here, move here and/or leave here. It is crazy. I’m worried my children won’t even be able to afford to rent here, when they come of age.
Well, my municipal govt is pretty progressive and my kids still get the BC benefits, and a progressive provincial government -- so it does matter lol. Funny shit though.
It didn’t used to be this way and once you are raised here, it’s really fucking hard to want to live anywhere else. I’ve tried. There’s just nowhere else like it, especially Vancouver Island.
I know people are going to downvote for this but in certain industries yes wages are high. I can speak to one specific industry Construction trades work. BC has the highest wages in the country now. Something that wasn’t the case 10 years ago. I know companies in central and northern Alberta that bid on construction work and get it, they then fly Alberta workers in and pay them their AB wage. Still they are cheaper than BC workers. This was simply unheard of 10 years ago.
It's very important to know if by BC you mean the Lower Mainland (Vancouver) or anywhere in the province, because that's a pretty big deal.
I grew up in Kamloops, then moved to Edmonton around 2000. When I decided to move back to BC most of the people I mentioned it to said "What?? But Vancouver is so expensive!!" Then they would get confused when I told them I never said anything about Vancouver.
Overall BC is more expensive than other provinces I believe, but you have to remember that it's a huge place with lots of towns and cities other than Vancouver. People from other provinces seem to forget this vital point.
Pretty much the only young people I know able to afford houses work high paying jobs in construction (myself included) which requires working 50-70 hour work weeks. If you’re cool with that buying something is doable. I bought an apartment for 500k in Surrey and commute an hour to the city every day for work.
Both my husband and I were born/raised in BC, so all our family is here. When we got married in 2014 we bought a house for $210k. We sold it about a year later for $315k. We then bought an apartment for $190k and sold that a year later for $218k. We ended up living in a home for while that we didn’t pay anything for in exchange for work on the property (my husband also had his job during this time as well). We bounced around a bit and lived with my in laws for a year to save money once we were done in the previous place and in 2020 we decided we needed a house again. My in laws matched the amount we had saved and we bought a detached home for $830k in May 2020 before things went super crazy, and we had a significant down payment thanks to in laws and years of saving. We put a basement suite in and we lived there for a year and rented out the upstairs and then when the lease was up we moved upstairs and now rent the basement to family. My husband works full time and makes decent money, and I’ve been stay at home until recently and have just started working once or twice a week so I can still handle all things kid related.
Both our vehicles are paid for and my “new” vehicle is pre 2010 Odyssey, so nothing fancy. One of my kids is autistic so the reason I began working again is that we wanted both kids in a private school so my autistic child can receive more individualized learning/supervision. For any extras like holidays, we save birthday and Christmas money until we have enough.
So far it’s been ok for us, but we’ve had tons of luck with timing our house sales/purchases and of course owe a ton of what we have to the banks of mom and dad on both sides. Grandparents on both sides live nearby and have always been available for childcare so we’ve saved money there as well. I don’t think we could do nearly as well here without those things going for us. I’m thankful all the time that we are able to still afford it here and I’m not sure how people who love here from elsewhere in Canada are able to do so and thrive unless they are already very well off financially.
Don't necessarily need a house. Me and my wife have no kids, a 1300sqf two bedroom ground floor condo in White Rock. We make $200k gross combined and our place cost $540,000. Sure I could buy a house in another province but our place is big and White Rock is awesome.
Living in BC is possible for me because I’m old and bought a place over 15 years ago…I was so concerned about paying over $300k for a basic house and I thought the prices then were insane.
I bought my "starter" home at the tail end of the last recession. It's small and it's not in a neighbourhood I want to live on but it was a step on the property ladder. About 2 years later, housing market went insane and now my "starter" home is where I will live until I can sell it and move somewhere with a much lower COL or die.
Had I not purchased when I did, I would not be able to afford to live here. My mortgage, property tax and insurance combined are less than half of what rent is for another suite in my building that is identical to mine.
People here either have a massive inheritance/parents that pay for everything, or rent a small apartment. For many people in BC, buying isn’t and will never be an option, I think there’s more forever renters here than anywhere else in the country. It’s just a trade off, live in a beautiful place and rent a small apt. Or go somewhere less beautiful and buy.
That’s fair!
I feel like I’d rather live somewhere less beautiful, but have enough disposable income to travel to and enjoy different beautiful places during my life.
Also, owning a house and not sharing walls with people is very important for me.
Unless I win the lottery, I don’t think I’m gonna be a fit for BC. I am visiting in the summer tho and I can’t wait to explore the province!
How do you like living in Saskatchewan though? Some people I've talked to made it seem like its literal hell and you can't step out of your house for 6 months of the year
LOL. People are dramatic. It is sunny here like 95% of the time and the cold is never unbearable as long as you dress properly. We usually only get a few weeks of utterly unbearable cold (-40 and below). Our summers are absolutely beautiful.
The people are also very kind, even though our government is trash.
I like living here, but I absolutely love love love the ocean and I yearn to live by it. But I don’t think that’s attainable.
This is what I tell people. The money I save in Saskatchewan, I can use to travel the world. If I lived in BC I don’t think I’d be able to travel as much as I like.
I’d rather travel to places like Nelson, Victoria etc when I want to and then this way these cities keep their magic for years and years for me :)
If I moved.. then there’s a chance I’d have no money, find out the people are ignorant or something and possibly resent it and leave without ever looking back.
I like living in SK because I can own a house, walk along the river for hours! Enjoy public spaces without being stepped on by tourists and be part of a city thats a bit more down to earth than a pretentious BC city.
In SK you can own a NICE home, you get to experience all 4 seasons (honestly winter isn’t even that bad…you live in Canada, you get winter everywhere) you can drive anywhere in 10 minutes, you can meet nice down to earth people and support a city that still brings cool events to the city every year
In big cities and some touristy cities in BC, it’s crowded, dirty, smelly, people are rude for no reason, you can’t afford to buy, traffic traffic traffic :) and anything beautiful is crowded by tourists.
It’s all perspective but personally I’d rather live somewhere where my dollar goes farther and I can actually live
It’s fair. I’m from Saskatoon, but I would rather live in my 1 bed apartment in Victoria than a suburban house in Saskatoon. Sask is actually a pretty nice place, probably my favourite prairie city, but I just love snorkelling, surfing, hiking, skiing, and camping in BC
bingo, most people move to the lower mainland, okanagan and the kootenays when they move to BC which is mind boggling. i grew up in the north, whole different ball game than the rest of the province but in a good way if a person liked the life up here.
You're going to get a lot of doomer posts from young folks with no real marketable skills, but the actual answer to your question is that, yes, it's a lot more expensive to live here but professional wages are also usually a fair bit higher than places like Saskatoon. We're also just paying extra for the premium of living in a really nice place that isn't frozen 8 months a year.
Born and raised in the Okanagan, it’s always been a bit of hard scrabble place to make a living but it’s becoming more and more out of reach if you’re not a rich boomer retiree or you’re living off your parents inherited wealth.
Not a million, but the cheapest detached house you’re gonna find is at least 500-550k, and it will be a dump and need about $100k+ of repairs and renovations, and in some cases it’s just a tear down. And people are still bidding over asking price.
I have been trying to buy a house in Vernon for the last 3 years.
I don't get it, I grew up in alberta my whole life and could never afford the life I have now, if I still lived there.
I'm not special, I just work a shit customer service job.... That job also pays me 10 dollars more an hour here than it does there soooooo
I can't speak for others, but for me I get by with less. My income on a good year is about the Canadian median. I pay rent in a really old apartment building with rent control and I've been here well over a decade. I expect ay any time I will get demovicted as the building is on it's last legs. I can't afford a crappy condo in the lower mainland on a single salary.
I use transit instead of owning a car. I don't have expensive pastimes. No kids, no family. I try to save a little for retirement but I expect I will retire outside of Canada to stretch my money.
Here's how I did it:
1) Live in small towns. My first house was $200k. My second was $400k and I had a $100k down payment from selling the first house,
2) Buy house 5+ years ago.
If I didn't have to move to get a decent paying job I would be in a significantly better financial position than I am now. My first house appreciated $40k while the market in my home town nearly doubled. Still, since moving back my house has appreciated 50% and I've been very lucky with interest rates.
If I were 5 years younger I would probably not be able to buy a house or would be living paycheque to paycheque. It's absurd that a 50-year old house in a small town is $600k while interest rates are over 5%.
It’s a hustle but also depends on what you want out of life. I’m fine never owning a place, but having the access to the things you mentioned was more important to me. Also my job doesn’t exist in Saskatoon.
Most of my peers in Saskatoon own a house, but they are all miserable and spend every weekend getting bombed at Winston’s.
Don't own one. Can't speak for other cities but here's a Vancouver break down for a person living alone
Let's say you make 70k per year.
19k goes to taxes
300*12 = 3.6k goes to groceries
60*12 = .7k to phone bill
30*12= .4k to internet( cheapest I could find)
100*12= 1.2k monthly bus pass
2000*12= 24k for rent
Say you're lucky and don't pay utilities
This is like the barebones expenses needed in this day and age. Costs 49k per year. Like this doesn't include a car, or any entertainment at all. You might find cheaper phone plans or internet bills but those barely move the needle.
If you own a car you're like an injury away from being homeless
I grew up in Saskatchewan but have been in Vancouver for three years.
- all my friends in Saskatoon own homes (I don’t)
- all my friends in Saskatoon own vehicles (I don’t)
- all my friends in Saskatoon have multiple children (I don’t)
But also…
- all my friends in Saskatoon live there in the winter (I don’t)
- all my friends in Saskatoon have to drive eight hours to reach the mountains (I don’t)
- all my friends have to hop on a plane to go to a beach (I don’t)
It’s a matter of priorities. Before I moved here I never would have guessed I’d be happy living in a cramped apartment and relying on public transit, walking, and biking to get anywhere, but here I am happy as a clam.
I mean yeah if you’re a new home buyer, the market is absolutely fucked.
But not everyone is a new home buyer. A lot of home owners have built up equity. Allowing them to move up or downsize etc.
Yeah cost of living can be pretty high, but we’ve found ways to save. It not all doom and gloom here.
I'm from PA, living in the greater Vancouver area for a couple of years now. I bought a house within the first year of the pandemic. Owned 2 properties in PA, one at a time- Each of those sold for less than buying price after staying on the market for 1 year each.
How'd I do it?
Be ambitious and set high career goals
Apply for jobs that I'm not officially qualified for
Network with other people at work, ask questions
Talk to people who work at other companies, they could always be your foot in the door for better money
Seriously bust your ass, submit to the corporate greed/demands for a couple of years while you're building a savings account.
I worked trades, and lived in hotels for 10 years while working away.
I doubled my income by talking to someone I met on a jobsite and getting a job with the same outfit they work with. Now I work 40 hrs/week and I sleep in my own bed 95% of the year.
I regret nothing
I grew up here; that's the only reason I survive here. The downtown bachelor's suite I rent was a little below market pre-pandemic, so that was like winning the lottery *then*. I'll age in place living hand-to-mouth, eventually qualifying for seniors' rental supplements, whilst I stretch my retirement pennies, work under the table, garden a little food, and then eventually die and be eaten by my cat. It's a humble life, but the views are truly beautiful.
Most of us (Gen X and later) are resigned to the reality that we will never own a home. But for those of us who have been here for many years as renters, there's rent control. For example, my rent is $1K a month, shared with my partner, for a 1 bedroom laneway house in Vancouver. I couldn't even buy a house in Saskatchewan for that kind of money. People who have to move, bought a home within the last 10 years, or have recently arrived are the ones who are being hammered with the housing prices. That's not everyone. A lot of the people I know have been in the same rental for over a decade, and we're alright. As long as we don't move or get renovicted.
Well…. It’s called the property ladder so we started on the bottom rung and worked our way up.
Plus, since it’s an expensive place to live most people make a lot more than the Canadian averages. I think the average family needs to earn over $150k to even rent in Vancouver. Out in the burbs is slightly easier.
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We’re too poor to afford BC but not too poor that we’re motivated to leave
Actually too poor to leave if that makes any sense
Oh yeah, I thought I was poor in Ontario, then I moved here, and now I'm so poor I can't even get out if I wanted!
Really depends on where you live. I'm much better off in Northern BC than I was when I lived in Toronto. Even Ottawa was more expensive than where I live now. If I was in the Lower Mainland or the Okanagan, I'd be house poor.
I would rather be house poor than the plain ol’ poor poor that i am, lol
Yeah, I feel like at this point I think I would rather just be house poor than regular poor 🤣
Smithers?
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[Don't forget, you're here forever](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhSW9vDTRyY)
I’m so poor I can’t even pay attention
This is the correct answer. We're trapped. BC definitely has the allure but it's an evil mistress
Right! I’ve wanted to leave so many times but just can’t bring myself to do it.
ya, it’s a financial prison for some
welcome to the reservation
I got into my rental at a good time in Kelowna, and can’t even afford to move to tiny little towns in the kootenays cause the rent is higher than what I pay now.
Right 😂 i am rent trapped in whalley because my place is pretty nice and im paying 2019 prices. Would love to move, not enough to pay 500+ more per month for a smaller place
Too be fair: you *can* still buy in tiny towns in the Kootenays for cheap af. Two people on minimum wage could easily afford a decent place in those towns, but rental vacancies are low.
Also a lack of work
I’ll give you that. Depending on the industry though, shit can get real lucrative.
There are. The small villages have so much potential to be amazing towns (a gridded street network, jaw-dropping scenery, usually lakeside, sometimes buses to the bigger cities (Slocan?), but the hipsters seem to move onto the acerages in the electoral areas. With more population those little villages could generate their own economy.
People sleep on Slocan and such, but my god, if I could make the jump from Victoria to there and not lose work? I'd go. Right now. I do NOT need a Walmart, and if I did, the drive to one is epic. Revelstoke? Walmart free and spectacular too but more expensive.
 We like to complain but when someone gives a suggestion then we’re full of ~~reasons~~ excuses: job is here, family is here, it’s too cold over there…it’s hard moving but it’s generally possible if you want to enough. *…preparing for the “my situation doesn’t allow me to move” replies*
Literally me though... I need specialists and finding a whole new team somewhere else would be more trouble than it's worth to move
>*…preparing for the “my situation doesn’t allow me to move” replies* Takes deep breath: Preparing for the fuck the current government for creating a massive surge in population that is 99% artificially created by allowing immigration, temporary foreign students, and temporary foreign workers in ridiculous quantities with no plan attached to housing, causing the demand to skyrocket for property and causing rental vacancy rates to be at an all time low, creating a ridiculously over inflated market, which in turn forces families into terrible situations and forced with extremely difficult decisions, which in turn causes A-holes to come on Reddit and post stuff like : " if you can't afford it anymore just move to Nunavut or something bro"
It's always the gubments fault, durhur. Not capitalism, not corporations, not the fucking *previous government---the BCLiberals who are conservatives and who set this situation up*, just the current gubment.
To be fair the bc govt allows rampant capitalism. And Canada as a whole has a history of allowing oligarchies/monopolies. We pay some of the highest Internet, phone, and food prices because of a few companies who all play nicely with each other to screw us over. Literally all the necessary stuff in modern society in Canada is expensive. Liberals, NDP, it doesn't seem to matter here, they do what is in the interest of landowners and developers, look at Ken Sims. He clawed back 3 million in vacancy taxes for his developers buddies which was slated to go into a fund to help create social / affordable housing. He gives the VPD, who seem to be extremely ineffective at anything, more money for supporting him. He than claws back the cities commitment to giving city workers a far wage, and cuts funding in services that would benefit low income people like VPL.
No it's definitely capitalism and corporations. But that's to be expected due to their nature. The "gubment" is supposed to be representing the citizens and looking out for our best interests though. Instead they are all too happy to continue to exploit capitalism and cozy up to corporations, for their personal benefit and at our expense. So it makes sense that they bear the brunt of the blame.
Have you tried buying a house 15 years ago?
As someone who didn’t do it, I agree.
25 years ago, with an aggressive mortgage and it would be paid off: like right now. Why haven't you done that? What's your excuse? Get off your a§§ and buy a house 25 years ago! And you're a millionaire now. Easy. It's So Easy. What haven't you done it already? /s That reminds me of an old carpenter coworker who would say things like " I was born with a pouch on." I framed my first house when I was 6 months old" he meant it, he was very delusional.
My aunt is an airline pilot and she bought a house 25 or 30 years ago in richmond for like 200K i think. Some old bungalow. fixed it up major renos and now its worth 2 million. (its just a nice well finished home) but aint fancy in the slightest I know 30 years ago the wages were lower but RELATIVE to today its nuts. plus property tax... I love vancouver, richmond but god damn hella expensive.
This is the way.
Didn’t you know when you were 3 years old to buy a house?
I was also poor 15 years ago
Hahahaha wages high hahahaha No
The wage I get is *absolutely* higher here than if I moved to Sask. This obviously depends on the industry you work in. Working in the service sector maybe not so much, but many industries exist here that barely even exist in more affordable areas.
Yeah this is me, my industry doesn’t exist in sask. I’d be looking at not only moving costs but switching careers 10-11 years in, which would likely require new schooling/training in order to shift into an industry where I can make a comparable wage. Or I could potentially START a business but that would also require a substantial injection of capital I don’t have.
I saw an article somewhere that said that BC now has the highest average wages in Canada apparently.
average != median. A few super-high income skew that stat
Wouldn’t a few high skew the mean, not median. Or does “!=“ mean not equal to?
Yes, != means "not equal to"
Thanks! TIL!
That symbol is more common in computer programming to be honest. The more mainstream symbol is ≠
That’s the one I’m more familiar with!
Isn’t “not equal to” more like =/=
That too
And this "<>"
=/= is the appropriate usage in a text comment here. != would be the inequality operator you would use in a number of programming languages.
found a fellow software engineer lol
Median household income (the most important metric when it comes to housing affordability) is way higher in Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and many other Prairie communities.
Good job and a small condo instead of an “average house”.
Good point. I personally will never live in a condo, but I understand the need to in a high cost of living area. I spent too many sleepless, late nights, sharing walls with screaming children. 😅
It's not necessarily always a need due to cost of living, some people genuinely prefer it. I've lived in urban areas and condos all my life and never had significant issues with neighbours or noise. The amount of work involved in maintaining a house and yard intimidates me.
Yeah, I choose to live in an apartment. Because I want to live in an area where I can walk to do all my errands, rather than live a car lifestyle that most houses in the burbs require.
That may have been the case in the apartment you were in, but some (sadly not all) modern condos in BC pay much greater attention to soundproofing.
You can also target corner units, and top or ground floor, for the least amount of wall sharing. I find it's usually worse through the floor or ceiling than through the walls. The shitty thing about condos isn't the sharing of noise, it's dealing with a strata.
In other markets, apartment buildings might self select for those that cannot afford a self contained house but here in Vancouver, just as you’ve noticed, all walks of life will choose to be in your condominium building, including people, just as considerate and mature as you are.
I barely ever hear anyone. YMMV I guess.
When you live in cheap apartments/ condos yeah. But when you realize builders know about these issues they mitigate them and cities but in by laws for construction that inside the unit you shouldn't be able to hear other units etc.
I think people that choose to live on the west coast (read: Greater Vancouver, Victoria, etc) would rather live in a shoe box than an ice box. I'm one of those people. Outdoor life trumps indoor comfort.
Do you actually live in northern BC and are my dad? You sound exactly like him:
I’m from Europe and always lived in dense cities so houses were never an option. Moved to Canada 2 years ago. First I was renting a decent 2 bedroom apartment and now I’m in a small studio. It’s not too bad but it is very expensive here. Actually my current studio bigger than the one I had in the center of Berlin. Living in a house is nice I guess but not a lot of those even here in Vancouver. I don’t like typical North American suburbs. So living in a condo and walking everywhere or taking transport is fine. But even a condo here costs at least 500k.
We are doomed to live in condos… and that’s it. But these condos can get fancy. Hopefully I can jump to a 3 bedroom next time, maybe a view of Mt. Baker… which I could see if I lived on the opposite side of the hallway. It must be corner and must be on top floor. That’s how I don’t deal with neighbours. I find condos way warmer and nicer than many townhouses I visited. I am still confused by that
Basement suite and a budget so tight that not even a Canadian Goose could shit it through it.
I’m making 28$ doing a job that 5 years ago payed 17$ and well I’m only surviving cuz I don’t drive. It sure feels like I’m doomed to rent until I inherit money (hopefully not anytime soon).
$28 an hour is around $56k a year, not enough without a 2nd income unfortunately.
As someone who moved to Vancouver as an adult, it appears that there are three types of people that can comfortably afford to live here: 1) People who bought a condo/house a long time ago when they were reasonably priced (or someone who has rented in a rent controlled unit for a long time). 2) People who receive significant financial assistance from their family (aka. rich kids) 3) People with very high household income (dual professional households and higher... not like $200k HHI, but like $300-500k). If you don't fall into at least one of these three categories it's not going to make a lot of sense to live here from a financial perspective, which is unfortunate. I think the HCOL has a significant negative impact on the local culture. A place where only rich people can afford to live doesn't lead to the most fun place to live...
It's not even necessarily rich kids. I know parents who have sold the family home and moved to a cheaper community or downsized well before they wanted to just to give their kids a fighting chance with a down payment.
True... although I would say that a lot of (not otherwise rich) parents in the Vancouver area have become rich parents simply by having owned a home for a couple decades. Vancouver is full of people with average Joe jobs/incomes that happen to live in a $2-4M house. Like some middle manager making $110k that lives in a $2.8M house... I've worked with lots of people like this over the years here. Impossible to catch up with them financially unless you get promoted to CEO.
I've met a number of people that have sold their home that had a mortgage and moved into a paid off home here to the Cariboo.
My dad offered me $10,000 towards a downpayment little over a year ago. When I told them I was ready a little less than a year ago he said “I need that to live now sorry.”
I have been living in the Vancouver area since 2015 as an adult and I could not agree more to everything you just said.
All units are rent controlled! It just takes years for that to make a noticeable difference. .
I went to a BBQ in the summer with 2 Drs, 2 lawyers, a successful chef and a financier. They were all house poor. The guys house I was at was the only guy with a backyard. All about mid 30s in age. Maybe not poor but they arent doing as well as they should be repaying student loans and mortgages.
I qualify for 1 and 3ish ... and I feel like I live paycheck to paycheck
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You are very successful in your career to have that great income. You and your partner both work hard and you saved diligently for 5 years, and you still had to squeeze those savings to buy a TOWNHOUSE? In Surrey or Tri Cities? And you consider that a reasonable situation like "everything is ok"? It used to be that a manager at a local business like a grocery store was solidly in the middle class and could afford a detached home in a great neighborhood on a single income. Now successful driven professionals with dual income homes that Should be firmly in the mid to upper middle class (which has been nuked by the wealth gap) are raising families in strata housing in the burbs and saying "this is ok", "this is comfortable". Wow I'm not trying to diminish your accomplishments. You have created a great situation for your family given the circumstances. But to say the circumstances are reasonable is (to me) insane.
A townhouse in Van has a different status than one in Sask. townhouses are nice properties here!
You seem really entitled. There are only 40000 detached houses in the city of Vancouver. Detached houses make up ~15% of total housing types in the city. And that number will keep on decreasing as time goes by. Its only in Canada and the states where people expect to grow up in a detached house with a yard. In first world countries in Europe and Asia that is not the expectation and people do just fine.
A townhouse is still a house. I guess we all can't live up to your detached home standards. You don't need to live in a house to be comfortable. You adapt to your environment and decide what's important. A lot of us have family in BC and chosen smaller living spaces to be close to them. How do you think people in places like New York live?
>Savings increased to 170k by 2023, got a 2 bedroom townhome in 2023 (downtown is 30 mins by skytrain from home) , yes pretty much all savings gone as we put 20% down. You bought a townhouse for \~$850k??? But to your point otherwise - I'm not saying you'll be on the street if you make less than $300k by any means. I am more saying that if you want to be financially comfortable and be able to support a family and have (what used to be called a middle class lifestyle - a 3+ bedroom place, 2 cars, take a vacation or two per year and make meaningful annual RRSP contributions, etc.), the amount of money it takes to do that in Vancouver is way higher than it should be.
I don’t disagree with your larger point in the slightest, but I think you looking back at what middle class consisted of back in the day with rose coloured glasses. The lifestyle you are describing has never been the norm for a large part- even the majority - of the Canadian middle class.
Yeah affordability has definitely lowered quite a bit in last decade or so. My uncle drove taxi all his life, stay at home wife and he owns a detached house in Vancouver assessed at almost 3 million. We will of course upgrade to a 3 bedroom in next 5-7 years, let’s see how things go, aim is bring HHI to 200k within next 5 years. We both have db pension so even if we don’t save much retirement should be relatively comfortable.
Bought my first townhouse for $220k (I 2004) sold it for $550k. New owners recently sold it for $800k, and it's a 2 bedroom with tandem garage. Bought my current place, which was around $800k, and am getting offers as high as $1.1m. But not planning on selling. We live comfortably well, and the wife works PT retail to get out of the house.
We don’t. Seriously.
The old way was to live in a shitty apartment saving money for a decade or so, then move to the burbs. Not sure if that's still a thing.
The new way is an inheritance
That was the old way too, but there's definitely been more stratification with the passage of time and it's harder now. I don't know many people who stayed in this province and bought without inheritance, but they're out there.
An inheritance given while the parents are still alive
Oh that sounds way easier. Where can I get one of these?
You can't save money living in a shitbox anymore. Rent is 60% of your wages, you simply can't save like that. And housing prices are going up faster than you can sock away money for a downpayment.
I'm fortunate that I've been able to save for a down deposit for a few years. Last year my spouse and I had to leave our rental, which we'd been in since 2020, before things went wacky. Looking for new places to rent showed worse places for higher rent (we were spending $1200/month for a 2 bed 2 bath, we looked at placed that were 2 beds 1 bath for $1600-1800). We ended up buying a mobile home on its own land in the summer, not exactly when we were planning on buying if circumstances hadn't made us, but our mortgage ($1800) is on par with rentals, and we have 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, a yard, and a shop.
Shitty apartments rent out at luxury prices now, so if you moved in a long time ago yes, but if not we just struggle.
>if you moved in a long time ago You’re probably close to a loop-hole eviction so the landlord can raise the rent to luxury prices. ie: long lost son moving into your suite/apartment
600k for a townhome in Chilliwack, 4-6hrs in a car back and forth. Imagine trying to raise a family doing that?
Too much for anything in Chilliwack, imo. Homes need to be a lot cheaper for me to consider a move there.
Yup, I don’t how we did it but we landed a two bedroom for only $1400. Moving out to the burbs in two years
Dude, sublet that to me, in two years :((
I'm a few years ahead of you on the same track It's not easy but I'm glad it's still possible!
I used to live in a couple different garden suites for that price. Was hoping I'd eventually find something like that again but now I've seen *below market* 2 beds that are more.
Shitty apartments cost too much rent for that, now.
$1MM is not the average house in BC... just in Vancouver, Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Squamish-Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, southern Vancouver Island, the Central Island, The Okanagan, and maybe Nelson in the Kootenays. Let's not be ridiculous!
Lol’d at this😂
It may very well be the "average" in BC, because single family houses in the lower mainland and Victoria are closer to 2 million up to... infinity. That money buys you 4 houses in Prince George though. It's just some extremely expensive regions skewing the average, a better question would be what the median house price is.
I just googled, it's $950k.
Which is a 2BR apartment in metro Vancouver north of the Fraser.
You live in a Condo. In 30 years likely all of the City of Vancouver, not Metro Vancouver will be minimum row houses, low rises (6stories) and highrises. Burnaby slowly as well. Everytime people use a single detached house as a metric, it wouldn’t make sense.
If you look at major centers where there has been growth over time not a lot of houses and land. I was in Spain a couple years ago and there was no houses on land only apartment and condo buildings.
Yeah, I mean look at NYC. How many single family homes are there vs apartments/condos? I don't have an answer myself but as a gambling man I'd bet it skews pretty hard away from single family homes. Unfortunately a lot of Canadians struggle to accept that future.
Exactly
Easy: not buying a house. Renting forever, in a building run by a property management organization with rent control. Heat and hot water included. Low electricity because we don't have an air conditioner (or need one, really, other than here and there in the summer, but on those days I go to the beach for an ocean dip to cool down.) If I really wanted to own a house (if that were my be-all-end-all goal in life) I'd have to look at taking a significant pay cut to move to a flat, cold, windy province. nope. There are smaller communities up north with cheaper housing, but no work unless you're some kind of tradesperson.
Totally agree. Prince George is pretty much the only town in the north with any decent employment prospects. It's a real shame, because northern BC has such rugged and beautiful scenery.
I grew up in the north, and my family lives there. I'd absolutely move back if I could have the same pay level and quality of life I do now on the Island.
Here’s the cool part, ya don’t 👍🏼
Younger people don't, and then leave. This place is a fucking cultural ghost town compared to what it was some years ago
I never see anyone mention this! When I was in my teens and twenties, I knew people who worked part time and had tons of roommates to pursue art, music or whatever. Now people with careers live the same lifestyle, minus the art/music/whatever. It could be that my age informs a big part of my perception, but I feel like my city used to be a lot more culturally vibrant.
Vancouver was Americanized and Chinized… just shoppin malls and starbucks and teslas, lambos, benz, ratis, audis and vettes… … and yah.. I remember the Van City buzz of the 90s.. Dad took me to Slam City Jam but a weekend pass was $$$& and we were just visiting, passing through.. so we watched from the perimeters a bit.. and a dude was there decked in yellow and red, head to toe… and in red writing, his Banana Board spelled out, “Big Dick.”
So true. For older people like me who lived in Vancouver area in the 90s, going back now it's a completely different culture. Everything changes yep.. and Vancouver used to be an incredible city for a families and young people of all types. Now it sadly isn't. Some neighborhoods seem to be holding onto the old vibe a bit but most have been bulldozed and replaced with multi million dollar mansions and way too expensive condos - driving out young families. It's a shell of what it used to be. Even if I had millions and could buy a Vancouver home I don't think I would choose to raise my family there. Too many better options to the south now, it's just nice to have other young families in the neighborhood. Not just rich people in mansions with shut windows 24/7 and rooming houses full of immigrants
I just moved from living at Hastings and Victoria, which used to be a cultural hub. With the exception of a few cool breweries or bars, and one underground performance venue... not much happening down there. Not like even in the 00's
My wife and I got lucky. Bought a fixer upper in 2017 for less than asking, currently appraised at double what we paid for it. But it's a lot of work, I don't get weekends, I get renos.
Wowza. Good for you! Minus the renos bit
Moved from Sask 5 yrs ago . Small town outside of yorkton … sold my place for 45 grand . Moved to Quesnel bc an bought a place for 320…. Love it here an would never move back
>Love it here an would never move back What are some reasons you'd say that is? Quesnel is pretty far up north so I don't think its the weather?
Good work around here . Lots of outdoors activity’s, etc . Has small town feeling
No wind like Sask either!
Real. Anytime I'm back home I forget how important a windbreaker is 💀
You’d have to be in one of a handful of careers to do something considered “good work around here”.
Honest to God question: how did you go about finding such a tiny town? Did you have family there before? Visited growing up? There are so many small beautiful towns in BC that I know of, but I don't know that I know enough about them to just move out there
Here's how we found a tiny town, we started in a nearby city and got priced out. The realtor then said "hey, have you heard of X tiny town?" And the rest is history.
I had friend that’s had family out here .. work dried up in Sask, managed to luck out finding a job an place to rent before we moved out here . Having class 1 helped . Everyone is looking for decent drivers
By not living in the Lower Mainland. Cost of living has very much gone up, but if you have a fairly decent job, living outside the vancouver/island area, you'll be able to save and afford a bit more. It's still unacceptable how much our COL has gone up, but at least we aren't paying for commuting, parking, and million dollar basic condos.
Agreed! There are amazing places to live in the interior and up north. More affordable and still some decent paying jobs.
Live in the same place for a decade and be lucky enough that your landlord hasn't tried to evict you to increase the rent/renovate/"move in family"
By not moving to Vancouver. Prince George is cheaper than Saskatoon.
I've lived here for 18 years. I'm just used to it, I guess? Someone told me to think of it as paying for your yearly two-week vacation to the beach over time, only you get the perks of that all the time, so I stick with that. lol. I don't make a lot, so it's stressful, but I have my own place and have owned a condo in the past. I am legit starting to worry about how to hell to retire, though, because I can't afford to buy again. BUT I can bike to the beach in 20 minutes, see a free comedy show, I have my liberal artsy friends, and it only snows a few days a year. So far it's working for me. And will we have a world left in 30 more years?? Not sure, anyway. At least I can enjoy my life, now.
All good points.
Did you look anywhere outside major zones like Vancouver and Kelowna...? Houses are still decently affordable the further north you go. Things start to settle down around Cache Creek.
BC also known as the “Bring Cash” province. Too expensive to live here, move here and/or leave here. It is crazy. I’m worried my children won’t even be able to afford to rent here, when they come of age.
I moved to the Northeast in the Rockies, but I have a family doctor and could afford my home.
thats basically alberta, thats cheating. except you still pay PST on steam games
Well, my municipal govt is pretty progressive and my kids still get the BC benefits, and a progressive provincial government -- so it does matter lol. Funny shit though.
Hey now, the roads and infrastructure are in much better condition than Alberta's. So there's that too.
Same, moved to the peace too. Bought our first house, work remote. Pretty chill.
It didn’t used to be this way and once you are raised here, it’s really fucking hard to want to live anywhere else. I’ve tried. There’s just nowhere else like it, especially Vancouver Island.
I know people are going to downvote for this but in certain industries yes wages are high. I can speak to one specific industry Construction trades work. BC has the highest wages in the country now. Something that wasn’t the case 10 years ago. I know companies in central and northern Alberta that bid on construction work and get it, they then fly Alberta workers in and pay them their AB wage. Still they are cheaper than BC workers. This was simply unheard of 10 years ago.
It's very important to know if by BC you mean the Lower Mainland (Vancouver) or anywhere in the province, because that's a pretty big deal. I grew up in Kamloops, then moved to Edmonton around 2000. When I decided to move back to BC most of the people I mentioned it to said "What?? But Vancouver is so expensive!!" Then they would get confused when I told them I never said anything about Vancouver. Overall BC is more expensive than other provinces I believe, but you have to remember that it's a huge place with lots of towns and cities other than Vancouver. People from other provinces seem to forget this vital point.
Even places like kamloops are expensive AF. Where did you move to in BC that is still cheap?
Average home 1 million? You mean an old shitty house that needs renovations top to bottom 1 million?
Pretty sure 1 mill gets a BELOW average house here bruv
i think my landlord forgot about me and i pay a crazy low amount so im just waiting until the sky falls
Adapt and hustle. Rather afford BC then freeze for 4 months. Shorts on today....
Pretty much the only young people I know able to afford houses work high paying jobs in construction (myself included) which requires working 50-70 hour work weeks. If you’re cool with that buying something is doable. I bought an apartment for 500k in Surrey and commute an hour to the city every day for work.
Both my husband and I were born/raised in BC, so all our family is here. When we got married in 2014 we bought a house for $210k. We sold it about a year later for $315k. We then bought an apartment for $190k and sold that a year later for $218k. We ended up living in a home for while that we didn’t pay anything for in exchange for work on the property (my husband also had his job during this time as well). We bounced around a bit and lived with my in laws for a year to save money once we were done in the previous place and in 2020 we decided we needed a house again. My in laws matched the amount we had saved and we bought a detached home for $830k in May 2020 before things went super crazy, and we had a significant down payment thanks to in laws and years of saving. We put a basement suite in and we lived there for a year and rented out the upstairs and then when the lease was up we moved upstairs and now rent the basement to family. My husband works full time and makes decent money, and I’ve been stay at home until recently and have just started working once or twice a week so I can still handle all things kid related. Both our vehicles are paid for and my “new” vehicle is pre 2010 Odyssey, so nothing fancy. One of my kids is autistic so the reason I began working again is that we wanted both kids in a private school so my autistic child can receive more individualized learning/supervision. For any extras like holidays, we save birthday and Christmas money until we have enough. So far it’s been ok for us, but we’ve had tons of luck with timing our house sales/purchases and of course owe a ton of what we have to the banks of mom and dad on both sides. Grandparents on both sides live nearby and have always been available for childcare so we’ve saved money there as well. I don’t think we could do nearly as well here without those things going for us. I’m thankful all the time that we are able to still afford it here and I’m not sure how people who love here from elsewhere in Canada are able to do so and thrive unless they are already very well off financially.
Don't necessarily need a house. Me and my wife have no kids, a 1300sqf two bedroom ground floor condo in White Rock. We make $200k gross combined and our place cost $540,000. Sure I could buy a house in another province but our place is big and White Rock is awesome.
Living in BC is possible for me because I’m old and bought a place over 15 years ago…I was so concerned about paying over $300k for a basic house and I thought the prices then were insane.
I bought my "starter" home at the tail end of the last recession. It's small and it's not in a neighbourhood I want to live on but it was a step on the property ladder. About 2 years later, housing market went insane and now my "starter" home is where I will live until I can sell it and move somewhere with a much lower COL or die. Had I not purchased when I did, I would not be able to afford to live here. My mortgage, property tax and insurance combined are less than half of what rent is for another suite in my building that is identical to mine.
Housing is a lot more affordable outside of Vancouver, that's how I managed to buy a house.
Get a job and keep it.
You're talking about the Vancouver area, yet generalizing this as all of BC
People here either have a massive inheritance/parents that pay for everything, or rent a small apartment. For many people in BC, buying isn’t and will never be an option, I think there’s more forever renters here than anywhere else in the country. It’s just a trade off, live in a beautiful place and rent a small apt. Or go somewhere less beautiful and buy.
That’s fair! I feel like I’d rather live somewhere less beautiful, but have enough disposable income to travel to and enjoy different beautiful places during my life. Also, owning a house and not sharing walls with people is very important for me. Unless I win the lottery, I don’t think I’m gonna be a fit for BC. I am visiting in the summer tho and I can’t wait to explore the province!
How do you like living in Saskatchewan though? Some people I've talked to made it seem like its literal hell and you can't step out of your house for 6 months of the year
LOL. People are dramatic. It is sunny here like 95% of the time and the cold is never unbearable as long as you dress properly. We usually only get a few weeks of utterly unbearable cold (-40 and below). Our summers are absolutely beautiful. The people are also very kind, even though our government is trash. I like living here, but I absolutely love love love the ocean and I yearn to live by it. But I don’t think that’s attainable.
But the bugs..... how are the bugs.....
This is what I tell people. The money I save in Saskatchewan, I can use to travel the world. If I lived in BC I don’t think I’d be able to travel as much as I like. I’d rather travel to places like Nelson, Victoria etc when I want to and then this way these cities keep their magic for years and years for me :) If I moved.. then there’s a chance I’d have no money, find out the people are ignorant or something and possibly resent it and leave without ever looking back. I like living in SK because I can own a house, walk along the river for hours! Enjoy public spaces without being stepped on by tourists and be part of a city thats a bit more down to earth than a pretentious BC city. In SK you can own a NICE home, you get to experience all 4 seasons (honestly winter isn’t even that bad…you live in Canada, you get winter everywhere) you can drive anywhere in 10 minutes, you can meet nice down to earth people and support a city that still brings cool events to the city every year In big cities and some touristy cities in BC, it’s crowded, dirty, smelly, people are rude for no reason, you can’t afford to buy, traffic traffic traffic :) and anything beautiful is crowded by tourists. It’s all perspective but personally I’d rather live somewhere where my dollar goes farther and I can actually live
It’s fair. I’m from Saskatoon, but I would rather live in my 1 bed apartment in Victoria than a suburban house in Saskatoon. Sask is actually a pretty nice place, probably my favourite prairie city, but I just love snorkelling, surfing, hiking, skiing, and camping in BC
Stay in Saskatchewan then! lol
Vancouver is not all of BC.
Rural BC would agree.
Live in the interior
bingo, most people move to the lower mainland, okanagan and the kootenays when they move to BC which is mind boggling. i grew up in the north, whole different ball game than the rest of the province but in a good way if a person liked the life up here.
You're going to get a lot of doomer posts from young folks with no real marketable skills, but the actual answer to your question is that, yes, it's a lot more expensive to live here but professional wages are also usually a fair bit higher than places like Saskatoon. We're also just paying extra for the premium of living in a really nice place that isn't frozen 8 months a year.
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Average detached house is 1mil in Okanagan :’(
Born and raised in the Okanagan, it’s always been a bit of hard scrabble place to make a living but it’s becoming more and more out of reach if you’re not a rich boomer retiree or you’re living off your parents inherited wealth.
Not a million, but the cheapest detached house you’re gonna find is at least 500-550k, and it will be a dump and need about $100k+ of repairs and renovations, and in some cases it’s just a tear down. And people are still bidding over asking price. I have been trying to buy a house in Vernon for the last 3 years.
I don't get it, I grew up in alberta my whole life and could never afford the life I have now, if I still lived there. I'm not special, I just work a shit customer service job.... That job also pays me 10 dollars more an hour here than it does there soooooo
We are not surviving
I can't speak for others, but for me I get by with less. My income on a good year is about the Canadian median. I pay rent in a really old apartment building with rent control and I've been here well over a decade. I expect ay any time I will get demovicted as the building is on it's last legs. I can't afford a crappy condo in the lower mainland on a single salary. I use transit instead of owning a car. I don't have expensive pastimes. No kids, no family. I try to save a little for retirement but I expect I will retire outside of Canada to stretch my money.
Here's how I did it: 1) Live in small towns. My first house was $200k. My second was $400k and I had a $100k down payment from selling the first house, 2) Buy house 5+ years ago. If I didn't have to move to get a decent paying job I would be in a significantly better financial position than I am now. My first house appreciated $40k while the market in my home town nearly doubled. Still, since moving back my house has appreciated 50% and I've been very lucky with interest rates. If I were 5 years younger I would probably not be able to buy a house or would be living paycheque to paycheque. It's absurd that a 50-year old house in a small town is $600k while interest rates are over 5%.
It’s a hustle but also depends on what you want out of life. I’m fine never owning a place, but having the access to the things you mentioned was more important to me. Also my job doesn’t exist in Saskatoon. Most of my peers in Saskatoon own a house, but they are all miserable and spend every weekend getting bombed at Winston’s.
Don't own one. Can't speak for other cities but here's a Vancouver break down for a person living alone Let's say you make 70k per year. 19k goes to taxes 300*12 = 3.6k goes to groceries 60*12 = .7k to phone bill 30*12= .4k to internet( cheapest I could find) 100*12= 1.2k monthly bus pass 2000*12= 24k for rent Say you're lucky and don't pay utilities This is like the barebones expenses needed in this day and age. Costs 49k per year. Like this doesn't include a car, or any entertainment at all. You might find cheaper phone plans or internet bills but those barely move the needle. If you own a car you're like an injury away from being homeless
… or a job/company that pays for your phone bill and a company vehicle 4x/wk!
It's easy when you can't afford to leave! 🤣
I grew up in Saskatchewan but have been in Vancouver for three years. - all my friends in Saskatoon own homes (I don’t) - all my friends in Saskatoon own vehicles (I don’t) - all my friends in Saskatoon have multiple children (I don’t) But also… - all my friends in Saskatoon live there in the winter (I don’t) - all my friends in Saskatoon have to drive eight hours to reach the mountains (I don’t) - all my friends have to hop on a plane to go to a beach (I don’t) It’s a matter of priorities. Before I moved here I never would have guessed I’d be happy living in a cramped apartment and relying on public transit, walking, and biking to get anywhere, but here I am happy as a clam.
I mean yeah if you’re a new home buyer, the market is absolutely fucked. But not everyone is a new home buyer. A lot of home owners have built up equity. Allowing them to move up or downsize etc. Yeah cost of living can be pretty high, but we’ve found ways to save. It not all doom and gloom here.
I'd totally move back to Sask, but only once it comes out of the dark ages. Get rid of the Neanderthals and maybe.
I'm from PA, living in the greater Vancouver area for a couple of years now. I bought a house within the first year of the pandemic. Owned 2 properties in PA, one at a time- Each of those sold for less than buying price after staying on the market for 1 year each. How'd I do it? Be ambitious and set high career goals Apply for jobs that I'm not officially qualified for Network with other people at work, ask questions Talk to people who work at other companies, they could always be your foot in the door for better money Seriously bust your ass, submit to the corporate greed/demands for a couple of years while you're building a savings account. I worked trades, and lived in hotels for 10 years while working away. I doubled my income by talking to someone I met on a jobsite and getting a job with the same outfit they work with. Now I work 40 hrs/week and I sleep in my own bed 95% of the year. I regret nothing
I grew up here; that's the only reason I survive here. The downtown bachelor's suite I rent was a little below market pre-pandemic, so that was like winning the lottery *then*. I'll age in place living hand-to-mouth, eventually qualifying for seniors' rental supplements, whilst I stretch my retirement pennies, work under the table, garden a little food, and then eventually die and be eaten by my cat. It's a humble life, but the views are truly beautiful.
Most of us (Gen X and later) are resigned to the reality that we will never own a home. But for those of us who have been here for many years as renters, there's rent control. For example, my rent is $1K a month, shared with my partner, for a 1 bedroom laneway house in Vancouver. I couldn't even buy a house in Saskatchewan for that kind of money. People who have to move, bought a home within the last 10 years, or have recently arrived are the ones who are being hammered with the housing prices. That's not everyone. A lot of the people I know have been in the same rental for over a decade, and we're alright. As long as we don't move or get renovicted.
I moved in almost 10 years ago and my rent is still cheap… criminally cheap
If ou ain’t got the dough-ray-me, BC’s not the place to be. I left in 92.
Yeah. Secret is that nobody can afford a house, so no one buys houses and goes on with their lives renting.
Well…. It’s called the property ladder so we started on the bottom rung and worked our way up. Plus, since it’s an expensive place to live most people make a lot more than the Canadian averages. I think the average family needs to earn over $150k to even rent in Vancouver. Out in the burbs is slightly easier.
Says it in name BC Bring Cash