Building takes decades to really have an effect. If we wanted to make big improvements fast we would ban foreign buyers and slap big sales taxes on anyone buying >1 home.
Ya I don’t get why that second point you said isn’t talked about more, there’s people with 5+ properties that decide to buy another one just for the Fck of it
People on Reddit always suggest banning people from buying multiple homes. I don't understand how banning rentals is going to help the housing crisis though. How will that bring down rents?
People generally talk about taxing 2+ houses at significantly higher rates rather than outright banning. But a much more serious issue is the fact that large rental companies control huge swaths of the rental market. You have an issue in one of those rentals and bring it to the tenancy board? That's fine, but you're now blacklisted from half the rental supply by the company you brought up the issues against.
Landlords with 3 or 4 properties aren't a real problem.
Personally I would oppose that but yes the simplicity is attractive!
I haven't sold a secondary property in Canada but I'm fairly sure you are taxed on the capital gains on any property that isn't your primary residence.
Singapore Citizens (SC): 20% on the second property.
Singapore Permanent Residents (SPR): 30% on the second property.
Foreigners: 60% for any residential property.
Entities/Trusts: 65% for any residential property.
Buyer’s Stamp Duty (BSD): This is the standard stamp duty applicable to all property purchases, ranging from 1% to 6% based on the purchase price or market value.
Property Tax: Second homes that are not owner-occupied (i.e., rented out) are taxed at higher non-owner-occupier rates, which range from 12% to 36% of the Annual Value (AV).
I had a slumlord in Kelowna that owned 23 properties…..
They illegally increased the rent by $300/month on every property that wasn’t rented to family and said “You can try and use the RTB but we know people there and on the mediation so good luck”
I didn’t believe them, but it was also an absolute shithole and I don’t want to rent from a slumlord willing to use shitty tactics like that, so we just moved and didn’t bother dealing with them.
My petty revenge was it being a no pets suite, and whenever they’d show it Id find the neighbourhood stray cat who was super sweet and have them inside the unit. They walked in once and I said “Oh don’t worry about the cat, it isn’t ours it is just a neighbourhood stray that comes in to warm up and get pets sometimes” lol
Also jokes on them cause they forced out reliable tenants due to greed and had to deal with a string of tenants who dealt drugs, did a ton of drugs, and had cops show up to the place numerous times. Not that they likely cared since it was an absolute shithole of a basement suite
Second “vacation” property or cottage or whatever, all good who cares. Owning 23 fucking properties in the same city and letting them all decay with minimal upkeep? Tax the fucking shit out of them, no private individual should own 23 fucking properties to rent out
The true fastest way is to ram through zoning changes, go ham with emminent domain and seize a whole lot of private single family home residences (like everything between 29th ave and Nanaimo skytrain stations as well as a whole lot of McMansions in West Vancouver), forcibly remove the occupants, and bulldoze and rebuild higher density units. You would probalbly also need to preempt the inevitable law suits by passing legislation using the not withstanding clause that would invalidate property rights with a 'fuck you, Maybe you get a cash settlement but that land is no longer yours. Banks holding the mortgage on that can also go get fucked.' intent.
Doing this of course would result in some combination of full on murder attempts on whatever city council members endorse and enact such a plan, and a whole lot of court cases.
It should be the absolute inverse. Not increasing taxes on buying >1 M but instead, putting an actual sales/capital gains tax on any profit increment above 1 million. That way, the boomers can keep their 1 million retirement money and actually have to contribute to the betterment of society by giving up some of their juicy gains that they simply happened to stumble upon.
A cap gains max would help, but keep in mind you don't get the cap gains exemption on your extra homes anyway but they're still worth buying. Adding a high sales tax to >1 home owner would make it take years longer before their investment starts to pay off, making them less desirable as investments, and that's really what we need to do to fix things, is make homes less of a desirable investment. The fact they've been the perfect investment for so long is why things got so out of control.
Is that before or after inflation? If I bought a house in 1950 and sold it in 2025, a profit of $2M seems fair as after inflation, I'm making much less than a profit of $1M.
Fingers crossed. It’s not always a direct effect but it certainly helps. There’s always a fear that property owners convert to a different use that’s more profitable (STRs) rather than take a loss. In addition, financial institutions are restricting developers from lowering housing costs, lest they lose access to financing.
Well when prices for a 1 bedroom rental are around $2200 + utilities in my area, the only people renting those are couples. Not everyone has the luxury of splitting rent with a partner.
Just agreed to a new lease for Feb 1. The rents are coming down, too (though not that sharply yet) and landlords aren’t pressuring us the way they used to.
I hope against hope that it continues.
I made a move to a 2023 build with HRV, numerous noise-reducing features, and triple paned windows and am paying slightly less than I was this last year. Close to my current place. Could have saved a good amount if I wanted to by moving to a larger unit in an old building.
My building is still charging $2100 (in their new ads) for studios built in the 70s when one can now get same-size studios, in a similar location, in new builds, for slightly less. If fortunate, a Jr./urban one-bed. Other old buildings, much less. Good luck to them in finding tenants.
Seen similarly delusional rental ads in the west end and east van, but a lot of landlords seem to understand their current position and are lowering prices.
They are, im looking for a new place atm and pricing is more or less where they were in 2019/20. Still expensive but incredibly better than 2023 or even 2024.
This has way more to do with federal policy with international students and temp workers.
Canada's population finally went down for first time in years.
Not anti NDP, just think in this case they don't deserve the as much credit, not that they havnt acted in parallel to federal, just think this case the federal policies had more more effect.
Well it’s that but it’s also the fact that we’ve been building like crazy
We had the highest number of housing starts in our history in 2023. 15% of BC’s entire housing supply is currently under construction. They rezoned the province to allow for transit oriented development and 4-6 story developments.
Those are things you can clearly give them credit for
Like I said, i don't dispute that they have handled it well, nor that they havnt contributed.
Just think this rapid drop in vacancy is directly correlated more strongly to the federal government funding nially getting off their buts to do something and to work with Canadians, not against.
The major shift over the past year is the pullback of immigration. Carney’s Liberals have turned the tap down to a drip and the system can now handle it better.
Immigration is good when the infrastructure can handle it, we just were underdeveloped for the vast amount of people coming in under Trudeau.
I think as we see the housing numbers get handled we will see a measured rise in immigration, and it will be welcome when the system is equipped to handle the people arriving to their new home.
The yearly national rental report from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation found a vacancy rate of 3.7 per cent in Metro Vancouver for purpose-built rental apartments in 2025, the highest number seen in the region since 1988.
"A healthy vacancy rate—and experts talk about a healthy vacancy rate being between 3 per cent and 5 per cent —means that people have options," said B.C. Housing Minister Christine Boyle.
Huge improvement.
As the graph in the article shows, Vancouver's rental vacancy rates were basically 1% or lower from 2014 to 2023 (aside from a temporary rise in 2020), which made things very tough for renters (both rising rents and a lack of availability).
You still have my friends dad with a multimillion dollar house that’s been in “renovations” for the past 5 years. He refuses to actually finish renovations so no one can live there. I assume he’s using some type of loophole as an investment vehicle. I don’t think he cares if rent goes up or down
Well your friends dad is losing money on the carrying costs or the opportunity cost of putting that money to work, while land values trend down in most cities in Canada.
In Vancouver I just saw an owner sell a property for $1M less than what they paid for it <5 years ago. Land values are plummeting since builders can’t afford the higher cost of capital to develop land (nor project required rates of return needed) and therefore are being more selective of what they purchase.
Meanwhile the S&P has returned ~100% total returns in the last 5 years. At best your friends dad is flat on real estate (probably down) when he could have doubled his money.
Your heart is in the right place but I'm guessing that's not his only money. The rich tend to do things that make them richer, or they're so rich they don't care.
Vacancy rates are the only thing that lower rent
Nothing else will. They are all temporary bandaids that only appear to work
Apparently around 5% is where its really beneficial to the renting class
Build, build, build. More density.
Building takes decades to really have an effect. If we wanted to make big improvements fast we would ban foreign buyers and slap big sales taxes on anyone buying >1 home.
Ya I don’t get why that second point you said isn’t talked about more, there’s people with 5+ properties that decide to buy another one just for the Fck of it
People on Reddit always suggest banning people from buying multiple homes. I don't understand how banning rentals is going to help the housing crisis though. How will that bring down rents?
People generally talk about taxing 2+ houses at significantly higher rates rather than outright banning. But a much more serious issue is the fact that large rental companies control huge swaths of the rental market. You have an issue in one of those rentals and bring it to the tenancy board? That's fine, but you're now blacklisted from half the rental supply by the company you brought up the issues against.
Landlords with 3 or 4 properties aren't a real problem.
5+ properties, sure, but 2? The second could be a cottage, rec property, ski condo. 2 properties is not unreasonable.
A second property in the same city is an "income" property 99% of the time.
No any second property that cottage could be housings for people working in cottage country there property could be developed etc.
Make the rule simple.
Just my thoughts on it.
Simple rule, 3 or more?
Personally I would oppose that but yes the simplicity is attractive!
I haven't sold a secondary property in Canada but I'm fairly sure you are taxed on the capital gains on any property that isn't your primary residence.
This is how they do it in Singapore:
I had a slumlord in Kelowna that owned 23 properties…..
They illegally increased the rent by $300/month on every property that wasn’t rented to family and said “You can try and use the RTB but we know people there and on the mediation so good luck”
I didn’t believe them, but it was also an absolute shithole and I don’t want to rent from a slumlord willing to use shitty tactics like that, so we just moved and didn’t bother dealing with them.
My petty revenge was it being a no pets suite, and whenever they’d show it Id find the neighbourhood stray cat who was super sweet and have them inside the unit. They walked in once and I said “Oh don’t worry about the cat, it isn’t ours it is just a neighbourhood stray that comes in to warm up and get pets sometimes” lol
Also jokes on them cause they forced out reliable tenants due to greed and had to deal with a string of tenants who dealt drugs, did a ton of drugs, and had cops show up to the place numerous times. Not that they likely cared since it was an absolute shithole of a basement suite
Second “vacation” property or cottage or whatever, all good who cares. Owning 23 fucking properties in the same city and letting them all decay with minimal upkeep? Tax the fucking shit out of them, no private individual should own 23 fucking properties to rent out
It doesn't take decades, apartments can be built within a year or two and investors will get burned.
That is the fastest 'politically viable' way.
The true fastest way is to ram through zoning changes, go ham with emminent domain and seize a whole lot of private single family home residences (like everything between 29th ave and Nanaimo skytrain stations as well as a whole lot of McMansions in West Vancouver), forcibly remove the occupants, and bulldoze and rebuild higher density units. You would probalbly also need to preempt the inevitable law suits by passing legislation using the not withstanding clause that would invalidate property rights with a 'fuck you, Maybe you get a cash settlement but that land is no longer yours. Banks holding the mortgage on that can also go get fucked.' intent.
Doing this of course would result in some combination of full on murder attempts on whatever city council members endorse and enact such a plan, and a whole lot of court cases.
END COMMUNICATION
Well that is one way to do it. Thank you, comrade u/zardozsama
Where do I vote?
It should be the absolute inverse. Not increasing taxes on buying >1 M but instead, putting an actual sales/capital gains tax on any profit increment above 1 million. That way, the boomers can keep their 1 million retirement money and actually have to contribute to the betterment of society by giving up some of their juicy gains that they simply happened to stumble upon.
A cap gains max would help, but keep in mind you don't get the cap gains exemption on your extra homes anyway but they're still worth buying. Adding a high sales tax to >1 home owner would make it take years longer before their investment starts to pay off, making them less desirable as investments, and that's really what we need to do to fix things, is make homes less of a desirable investment. The fact they've been the perfect investment for so long is why things got so out of control.
Well the second homes get the empty home tax unless they’re lived in!
Is that before or after inflation? If I bought a house in 1950 and sold it in 2025, a profit of $2M seems fair as after inflation, I'm making much less than a profit of $1M.
[ Removed by Reddit ]
So long as they aren't those investor grade shoeboxes. I see lots of listings near me, but so many are what I consider to be unlivable.
You can't build enough in an area as small as the lower mainland to soak up the worlds investors that just gobble up new properties.
First you have to fix owning empty properties as investments because there's A LOT of those just sitting there empty.
Fingers crossed. It’s not always a direct effect but it certainly helps. There’s always a fear that property owners convert to a different use that’s more profitable (STRs) rather than take a loss. In addition, financial institutions are restricting developers from lowering housing costs, lest they lose access to financing.
Yeah, 5-7% is very healthy.
Quick bring in more air bnb. Can't have rental fall
Well when prices for a 1 bedroom rental are around $2200 + utilities in my area, the only people renting those are couples. Not everyone has the luxury of splitting rent with a partner.
Just agreed to a new lease for Feb 1. The rents are coming down, too (though not that sharply yet) and landlords aren’t pressuring us the way they used to.
I hope against hope that it continues.
I made a move to a 2023 build with HRV, numerous noise-reducing features, and triple paned windows and am paying slightly less than I was this last year. Close to my current place. Could have saved a good amount if I wanted to by moving to a larger unit in an old building.
My building is still charging $2100 (in their new ads) for studios built in the 70s when one can now get same-size studios, in a similar location, in new builds, for slightly less. If fortunate, a Jr./urban one-bed. Other old buildings, much less. Good luck to them in finding tenants.
Seen similarly delusional rental ads in the west end and east van, but a lot of landlords seem to understand their current position and are lowering prices.
Are rents dropping in downtown Vancouver? Because every 1BR I see is still at least $2500-2600 for like 500-600sqft (unless that is the reduced rate).
$2500 to $2600 is 6% lower year over year
https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/vancouver-bc
From really unaffordable to kinda really unaffordable lol
Hell yes
Obviously that means the prices are going down. Right?
They are
https://www.zumper.com/rent-research/vancouver-bc
They are, im looking for a new place atm and pricing is more or less where they were in 2019/20. Still expensive but incredibly better than 2023 or even 2024.
Thanks NDP!
This trend has also been observed in Ontario. Actually vacancy rates in Toronto are better than Vancouver. Under a conservative premier
This has way more to do with the bond market, interest rates and speculation on immigration than anything else.
This has way more to do with federal policy with international students and temp workers.
Canada's population finally went down for first time in years.
Not anti NDP, just think in this case they don't deserve the as much credit, not that they havnt acted in parallel to federal, just think this case the federal policies had more more effect.
Well it’s that but it’s also the fact that we’ve been building like crazy
We had the highest number of housing starts in our history in 2023. 15% of BC’s entire housing supply is currently under construction. They rezoned the province to allow for transit oriented development and 4-6 story developments.
Those are things you can clearly give them credit for
Like I said, i don't dispute that they have handled it well, nor that they havnt contributed.
Just think this rapid drop in vacancy is directly correlated more strongly to the federal government funding nially getting off their buts to do something and to work with Canadians, not against.
Mind sharing where you got that stat? That would be great, but seems a bit hard to believe.
The major shift over the past year is the pullback of immigration. Carney’s Liberals have turned the tap down to a drip and the system can now handle it better.
Immigration is good when the infrastructure can handle it, we just were underdeveloped for the vast amount of people coming in under Trudeau.
I think as we see the housing numbers get handled we will see a measured rise in immigration, and it will be welcome when the system is equipped to handle the people arriving to their new home.
Its the exodus of the unskilled TFWs and international students
NDP has nothing to do with the demand for rentals
Huge improvement.
As the graph in the article shows, Vancouver's rental vacancy rates were basically 1% or lower from 2014 to 2023 (aside from a temporary rise in 2020), which made things very tough for renters (both rising rents and a lack of availability).
You still have my friends dad with a multimillion dollar house that’s been in “renovations” for the past 5 years. He refuses to actually finish renovations so no one can live there. I assume he’s using some type of loophole as an investment vehicle. I don’t think he cares if rent goes up or down
Well your friends dad is losing money on the carrying costs or the opportunity cost of putting that money to work, while land values trend down in most cities in Canada.
In Vancouver I just saw an owner sell a property for $1M less than what they paid for it <5 years ago. Land values are plummeting since builders can’t afford the higher cost of capital to develop land (nor project required rates of return needed) and therefore are being more selective of what they purchase.
Meanwhile the S&P has returned ~100% total returns in the last 5 years. At best your friends dad is flat on real estate (probably down) when he could have doubled his money.
Your heart is in the right place but I'm guessing that's not his only money. The rich tend to do things that make them richer, or they're so rich they don't care.
Well someone lost money.
It's us, the poor people. The rich are fine.
🙄
Welp. Time to step in and keep the prices high. 1980s vacancy and 2022 prices. Could be Canada's moveing to new ghost city models like China.
Now if only the house price to average income ratio would go back to 1988.
I got my 1 plus den at fort York in ft Toronto for $1800 back in 2022 im waiting for those prices
Nah. It needs to keep going down.
Can confirm rent in Vancouver is down around 10% YoY, a relief for renters
Developers aren’t building and many are underwater right now. Comically, this’ll likely lead to a housing shortage down the road…
Has landlord I’d ride this out leave my places empty rather than accept a lower rate , assuming BC has the same rent control laws as Ontario