Pivoting off of my post a few weeks ago about The VFX View From Vancouver, I pondered how do VFX artists make ends meet in Vancouver: wages are generally lower and the cost of living rivals cities like New York. Well the video above from the local news in BC investigates that very issue.
Apparently the high cost of living is affecting BC’s 18-34 generation as there is a growing exodus out of the province. As the video above reports:
For the first time since 2003, BC lost more people to other provinces than it gained.
Most of this is driven by Vancouver’s sizzling real estate values (ranked the worlds most unaffordable real-estate market) as an influx of Chinese buyers have added to an already huge bubble.
For VFX artists in general, the prospects of owning a home or even having a family are issues I’ve posted about and Vancouver is no different. In fact, part of the reason California has been unable to compete in the VFX subsidy war is indirectly related to the huge pop in the real estate bubble here.
It’s quite feasible that if Vancouver’s real estate bubble collapse, the province may no longer be able to offer US Studios it’s generous film subsidy which has led to the huge boom in the VFX industry there.
Soldier On.
I don’t know if Vancouver will ever have a a real estate collapse. If we can’t afford it, someone from another country sees it as a bargain and jumps all over it.
ref: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/blogs/realestate/2011/10/05/asian-investors-continue-drive-home-prices-higher-vancouver-real-estate
“real estate never goes down in Los Angeles! If it does foreigners will buy it up!”
I remember hearing that in 2005. Funny because the same thing was said about LA in 1984:
http://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/08/opinion/the-day-los-angeles-s-bubble-burst.html
What happens to economies in cold climates when energy costs go up?
There is always Toronto..
Oh wait.. all the top artists left T.O. to go to Vancouver.
The government of Canada has helped warp Vancouver’s already twisted relationship to property values. With the CMHC insuring “risky” mortgages and the purchasing of Insured Mortgage Pools (over $50 billion worth).
http://www.fin.gc.ca/n08/08-090-eng.asp
While there are rich foreigners it’s so much easier to point the finger at “them” than to see what government manipulations do to create distortions in markets.
Another good article on Vancouver outmigration is here.
http://www.vanmag.com/News_and_Features/Gone?page=0%2C0
Eh, BC’s population is increasing.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/10/18/bc-house-of-commons-seat-increase.html?cmp=rss
Are you denying that the cost of living in BC is expensive?
Secondly, the article you point to attributes BC gaining seats in parliament due to population growth. However the amount of seats gained is less than what the province was expecting, implying slowed population growth.
[...] I’ve written a few posts on how Vancouver’s real estate market is the most unaffordable in the world. [...]
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