Dr Sam Mehrbod’s Blog

The City of Vancouver has released a new tool, the Project Requirements Exploration Tool (PRET), to quicken permitting times for laneway houses in an effort to address housing supply gaps. This tool is designed to help single-family residential lot owners apply for permits to build secondary rental suites and is part of the three-year Housing…

The Government of Canada has invested $48.5 million for the construction of 104 purpose-built rental homes for residents of Vancouver through the Rental Construction Financing Initiative. This project is fully leased and was completed in June 2021. It is LEED Gold certified and is connected to the False Creek Neighbourhood Energy Utility. The project was…

In October 2023, rent in Vancouver has increased significantly, with the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment reaching $3,908, a 0.7% increase month-over-month and 11.1% year-over-year. Combined with other expenses, the annual amount for a single person in BC is $63,240, leaving little to nothing for a single person with an average salary of $63,087.…

The real estate market in Vancouver is in a state of flux as of October 2023, with buyers waiting for the right time to purchase and sellers struggling to find suitable buyers. The market remains uncertain as the situation continues to evolve. Continue to full article

In October 2023, Vancouver remains the most expensive city in Canada for housing, with a median rent of $2,800 for a one-bedroom apartment. Burnaby is the third-most expensive city, while Kelowna saw the greatest month-over-month increase, reaching $1,860 for a one-bedroom. Zumper looks at asking prices for rentals across major cities and calculates median asking…

In October 2023, the BC government announced new regulations targeting short-term rental services such as Airbnb. These regulations include a provincial registry and fines for non-compliance, and have been met with both positive and negative reactions. The goal of the regulations is to open up more housing and combat speculation in the rental market. Continue…

Downtown Vancouver no longer has the lowest office vacancy rate amongst Canada's largest city centres. According to a new market update by Colliers International, downtown Toronto has the lowest rate of 11% in the third quarter of 2023, while downtown Vancouver's is 11.9%. This is the highest office vacancy rate in downtown Vancouver for about…

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) newly released data shows that the number of housing starts in Canada’s six largest metropolitan areas increased by only 1% over the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. Vancouver and Toronto dominated the housing starts, with 58% of the total being apartments, driven…

In September 2023, the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported a 13.2% increase in home sales compared to the same month in the previous year. This was accompanied by a 28.4% increase in new listings, allowing overall inventory levels to recover modestly from the previous spring and summer. The composite benchmark home price was…