Vancouver’s real estate market is out of control. This is true for both buyers and renters.
Earlier this year, the city took a step towards curbing astronomical real estate prices by imposing the foreign buyers tax, which has already had a drastic effect.
Now, Mayor Gregor Robertson is looking for ways to solve Vancouver’s rental crisis.
Robertson announced a plan yesterday that would impose a one per cent tax on empty homes to help raise the vacancy rate in the city’s nearly impenetrable rental market.
“We are in a housing crisis here and we need to take action,” said Mayor Robertson at a news conference. “It’s absolutely unacceptable for all that housing to be treated as a commodity first, as a business holding, when housing is in such short supply.”
The one per cent tax will be applied to homes that aren’t principal residences and aren’t rented out or exempted for a number of other reasons ranging from properties under renovation or construction to the owner receiving medial care. It will be levied based on the property’s assessed value, which means a $1.1 million homes – the average in Vancouver – will carry an $11,000 tax. Homeowners are expected to self-declare properties that are not their principal address where they receive mail and file taxes.
It’s estimated that around 11,000 condos in Vancouver have been sitting empty for a year or more. The city is currently home to the lowest rental vacancy rate and highest rents in Canada.
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