#7 – The impact of immigration on the Vancouver housing market, with David Eby and Tom Davidoff

Tom Davidoff is an Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. He is frequently cited in the Vancouver media as being an expert on Vancouver's housing market, and was part of a team of nine academics who created the B.C. Housing Affordability Fund proposal. David Eby is the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver-Point Grey, and was previously the Executive Director of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. He is a passionate advocate for making Vancouver a more affordable place to live. The questions that we discussed in the podcast are: What has been going on in the Vancouver housing market? How fast have prices been rising? Is there evidence that foreign investment / foreign funds has been the cause of the increase in Vancouver housing prices? What data is there regarding the amount of foreign home ownership in Vancouver? What is the property transfer tax, and what are the new rules on how it applies to foreign buyers? Is there evidence that high housing prices impacts the rental market? Does it matter if the landlord is a Canadian or a foreigner? Why should high housing prices matter? Why should people think that they should be able to live in a market that they cannot afford? Should we move beyond the paradigm of valuing single detached homes? What role do international students play in the increase in housing prices? Does the fear of being accused of racism prevent government from addressing the issue of high prices? Is real estate such an integral part of the British Columbia economy such that high prices are now "too big to fail?" Should we move beyond the paradigm of valuing home ownership?