Exploding The Vacancy Myth: No One Home? Not So Fast …

The price of residential real estate in the City of Vancouver continues to increase at a staggering rate. This is especially true for single family homes; figures released by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver for February 2016 show a 27% year-over-year increase for single detached home prices in Metro Vancouver.  Theories to explain the craziness of this market abound, with pundits typically pointing to historically low interest rates, a relatively small land base and the effect of foreign capital as all hurting affordability. Other more unusual theories are floating around, as well (for example, some blame profits from the illegal sale of marijuana for increasing prices).  Falling somewhere between these typical and more outlandish theories is the "vacancy theory", which posits that a vast number of single family homes in Vancouver have been purchased solely as investment properties and sit vacant, reducing the housing stock and driving up prices.