Vacant on Purpose

3/9/2016

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

From BC Hydro Meters

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%

This study utilized 12 years’ of BC Hydro data by Matthew Bourke of the city’s housing policy and projects department and Bruce Townson, a consultant and CEO of Ecotagious Inc.

“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

Original study presented to City of Vancouver, March 8, 2016
Reviewed by Travis Lupick The Georgia Straight, March 8, 2016

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