The Vancouver real estate market can seem prohibitive to new buyers. To have a simple home with a yard where you can raise your kids can easily cost you upwards of a million dollars, depending on where you choose to live.
Those who bought in around 2000 enjoyed 12 solid years of growth, with prices tripling to quadrupling. This is great on an equity level, but if you are thinking of moving up, you might find you are pretty much locked into what you’ve got.
It’s true, Vancouver can seem very unaffordable sometimes, but all this sulking is often more a direct result of too much yoga and navel gazing, and not enough opening our eyes to see what is going on in less fortunate markets out there.
Perhaps a glance at the brown grass over the fence will put things in perspective the next time you grumble about the property tax on your vastly successful investment.
Detroit
Did you know you can buy a home in Detroit for one dollar? Detroit City has gone bankrupt, and as a result, the real estate market has completely crashed.
It may seem like an amazing bargain, until you factor in all the costs associated. You will need to demolish the home. Then pay for the cleanup. Then there is the cost of building a home from scratch. If you bought a home in Detroit in 2000, your option isn’t to cash out with half a million, your option is to leave town and start over.
Hong Kong
There is a reason Hong Kongers eat almost every meal in restaurants. A 200 square foot studio apartment in Causeway Bay is considered luxurious in Hong Kong. There’s no having guests over. Your space is a place to sleep, store a few things, and that’s about it. Homes there cost more than $3.8 million, which is 13.5 times the median income of $282,000. Kids live with their parents in one-bedroom apartments until they marry and move on to their own studio to start a family. If you get claustrophobic here – just imagine what your options are there.
Kangbashi
Have you heard about the ghost cities in China? Billions spent on infrastructure, roads, construction, and planning – but not a soul in sight. It’s a sign of urban development spinning out of control. If you bought in Kangbashi, you’d quickly find yourself without any neighbours, or even other humans, anywhere. It would be lonely, and ultimately, a massive investment fail.
So yes, Vancouver is expensive. But it is also solid value. If you want to live in a home that is growing in value faster than the stock market, you will find Lotusland to be amenable. It’s both a beautiful place to live, and a fine place to make money on Vancouver real estate.
