CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE In Vancouver, talk of growth intersects with the investment of outside money—and although there’s no firm data, it’s clear that developers are courting foreign money, especially when marketing luxury condos. “The growth in absolute numbers of dwelling units is highest in Vancouver, but the population is growing faster in the city of Surrey,” notes Patrick Condon, UBC’s chair of urban design. ​“That speaks to the point that some of these new housing units aren’t occupied at all, or are occupied by one person or temporarily occupied. That’s not the case in Surrey, where if a housing unit is built, you can be sure there will be at least three people in it.” (BCBusiness.ca)

​I was looking at open houses this weekend in East Vancouver where droves of anxious buyers are trolling for accommodation under $1,000,000; good luck with that people. (91% of single-family homes in Vancouver now valued at over $1 million, study shows. VanCityBuzz.com) Apart from the housing mania in Vancouver, there is an automobile mania that has been fueled by low interest rates as well. ​Vancouver is making the same mistakes as most other polluted and vehicle congested cites by funneling single passenger cars out of the suburbs into dense urban areas and allowing gas and diesel exhaust to be spewed into our high density residential areas. ​(BCAirQuality.ca) ​Each carsharing vehicle removes 8-10 private vehicles off the roads. In Germany, statistically, each carsharing vehicle is used by 35- 40 members. Currently, more than 80% of Italian Carsharing Members are working professionals. (CarSharing.de)

CLICK CHART TO ENLARGE

Some experts go so far as to predict that replacing the all-glass outer layers of buildings may become necessary as early as 15 to 20 years from the day that the condo is built, and cost as much as $80,000 per unit. ​In short, what seems very attractive and appealing to condo buyers today may come to haunt them in the not-so-distant future. (TheGlobeAndMail.com)

However, for buildings in which major problems have been discovered... the financial strain posed by construction estimates makes it difficult for strata corporations with problems to obtain the approval of 75 per cent of owners they need to go ahead with special assessments to cover the costs of repairs.

Condo owners have options. If individual owners can’t afford the full amount of special assessments, or can’t finance repairs on their credit, strata corporations can take out loans on behalf of the building. “In the last two or three years, there has been an increase in the number of lenders that fund these (strata loans),” said Brian Chatfield, president of North-Vancouver-based 1 City Financial Ltd. (VancouverSun.com)

The Secrets of the World's Happiest Cities

There is a clear connection between social deficit and the shape of cities. A Swedish study found that people who endure more than a 45-minute commute were 40% more likely to divorce. People who live in monofunctional, car‑dependent neighbourhoods outside urban centres are much less trusting of other people than people who live in walkable neighbourhoods where housing is mixed with shops, services and places to work.

Driving in traffic is harrowing for both brain and body. The blood of people who drive in cities is a stew of stress hormones. The worse the traffic, the more your system is flooded with adrenaline and cortisol, the fight-or-flight juices that, in the short-term, get your heart pumping faster, dilate your air passages and help sharpen your alertness, but in the long-term can make you ill. Researchers for Hewlett-Packard convinced volunteers in England to wear electrode caps during their commutes and found that whether they were driving or taking the train, peak-hour travellers suffered worse stress than fighter pilots or riot police facing mobs of angry protesters.

But one group of commuters report enjoying themselves. These are people who travel under their own steam, like Robert Judge. They walk. They run. They ride bicycles. By spending resources and designing cities in a way that values everyone's experience, we can make cities that help us all get stronger, more resilient, more connected, more active and more free. We just have to decide who our cities are for. And we have to believe that they can change. (TheGuardian.com)
​

Finally after +/- 3 years of Blogosphere Ranting - Some Actual Data

From BC Hydro Meters CLICK CHART TO ENLARGE CLICK CHART TO ENLARGE

​All Non-Occupied Units 4.8% Downtown 6.0% N.W. 7.4% N.E. 4.5% S.W. 3.4% S.E. 2.9% Non-Occupied Apartments 7.2% Downtown 6.1% N.W. 9.4% N.E. 6.8% S.W. 8.6% S.E. 7.1% Non-Occupied Row House 1.3% Downtown 0.9% N.W. 1.7% N.E. 1.2% S.W. 1.9% S.E. 1.1% Non-Occupied SFD/Duplex 1.2% Downtown NA N.W. 1.6% N.E. 0.9% S.W. 1.2% S.E. 1.2%

​“The non-occupancy rate in apartments dropped from 7.7 percent in 2002 to 7.2 percent in 2014, it’s these apartments that actually drive the city’s aggregate, non-occupancy rate. In 2014, the CMHC [Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation] vacancy rate for purpose-built rental units was just over zero percent; it was about half a percent. This would mean that the non-occupancy rate for (all) condos, which make up the rest of the segment, would actually be closer to 12.5 percent.” Bruce Towson

​UPDATE: Condo ownership by foreign buyers most prominent in newer buildings: CMHC.

Snippet from CBC News April 7, 2016

Foreign ownership of condominiums tends to be higher in buildings built since 2010 in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says in a report released Thursday.

CMHC said the rate of foreign ownership in the Toronto census metropolitan area is less than two per cent for buildings completed before 1990, rising to seven per cent for newer structures completed since 2010.

Foreign ownership of condos goes up to about 10 per cent in the core of the city, although CMHC urged caution in the reliability of that estimate.

In Vancouver CMA, foreign buyers' share rises from less than two per cent for properties built prior to 1990 to about six  per cent for those completed since 2010.

In a six-month period, 70% of detached homes sold in Vancouver’s west side went to Mainland China buyers.

Even more stunning, the study shows that of all self-declared occupations among owners — on homes worth an average $3.05 million — 36 per cent were housewives or students with little income.

​And 18 per cent of the 172 homes purchased were not mortgaged by banks. That means roughly $100 million in questionable cash was poured into Vancouver’s west side from August 2014 to February 2015, much of it from China. Total value of all homes sold in the study period was $525 million. CONTINUE READING the full National Post, November 3, 2015 article., 

AUDIO INTERVIEW with David Eby, MLA Vancouver-Point Grey

David Eby, the NDP MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, told The Vancouver Province he helped city planner and researcher Andy Yan undertake the B.C. land-title study because many of his Vancouver west side constituents have complained about hollowed-out neighbourhoods, absentee investors, property flipping, and suspicions of money laundering and unfair tax avoidance.

“I think the bigger question to be studied is what happens when the driver for your residential market is wealth, not wages? That is a major public policy issue.” Andy Yan

Vacant Vancouver Condos
Global BC News Hour March 2013