Ep. 089: Vancouver Housing Market Dumps Millennials
Guest: Paul Kershaw, Generation Squeeze
Vancouver is on the cusp of becoming a generational ghost town.
That is according to Paul Kershaw of Generation Squeeze. He says, “By that, I mean the ability for a young adult to make their way in this region in any way that approximates what we thought was becoming the norm just a few decades ago is now further out of reach.”
Kershaw says many are opting to leave and that he points out introduces a host of other problems. “How, over a few decades, do you sustain the vibrancy of our economy and how do you keep an inter-generational space where you have young adults caring for their aging parents, you have aging parents caring for their grandchildren? These kinds of things are being squeezed.”
Kershaw says the pressure on the housing market is complex; it includes a move from rural to urban and immigration. “That creates some pretty straightforward supply and demand factors.” And nowhere is it more expensive than in Canada than Vancouver. The average number of work years required to buy a house nationally is 12 years. In Toronto it’s 15. in British Columbia, it’s 16, and in Vancouver it’s 23 years of saving to afford a 20% downpayment on a home.
