Housing affordability in Canada’s most expensive market — Vancouver — is at “crisis levels,” according to a new study, which says the re-acceleration of home prices, along with higher interest rates, are “slamming” ownership costs again. Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC Capital Markets said that while measures from regulators and the government such as higher interest rates will slow down...Read More

Excerpt:  The Vancouver School Board is proposing changes to the Mount Pleasant, Kitsilano and Downtown catchment areas in order to shorten wait lists at certain schools. But data analyst and parent Jens von Bergmann said the school district should have seen this coming. Census data from 2006, 2011 and 2016 show children are taking up an increasing amount...Read More

Excerpt: As the City of Vancouver works to solve its crushing affordability crisis by building higher, with condo towers becoming homes for everyone from single professionals to couples with children, the infrastructure needed to accommodate the corresponding influx of people is struggling to keep up. Larry Beasley, former chief planner for the city, said developing downtown...Read More

Excerpt: A controversial piece of property owned by the City of Vancouver has been sold to a local developer for $20-million and a promise to develop tens of millions of dollars’ worth of affordable-housing units. The city announced on Monday that Pinnacle International Inc. beat three other bidders for the property at 601 Beach Crescent downtown,...Read More

Excerpt: This is public land. Careful public scrutiny is crucial to ensure what happens here is a good deal for the people of Vancouver. In the past several days, the City of Vancouver posted a notice of City-owned land for sale, at 601 Beach Crescent — beside (east of) the Granville Bridge. The deadline for offers...Read More

Excerpt: There is precedent for the city to sell off land in the course of a rezoning; however, it’s uncertain at this time what their plans are in the absence of a staff report. The ratio of city-owned land to privately held land could slightly change down to 78% – 22% (with further subdivision of city-owned...Read More

Excerpt: “The city works on precedent,” he said. “The current council is only in place until November this year, and decisions of future councils will be based on what’s in the policy. Of course developers see what has happened, and I expect we’ll be seeing more applications for tall buildings downtown.” Helten said higher buildings in...Read More