Connect With Us To Talk Real Estate: 📆 calendly.com/thevancouverlife _________________________________ With the BC provincial election approaching on October 19th, housing policy has become a focal point for both major parties-the NDP and the Conservatives. Each party has released its housing platform, but the Conservative Party’s approach has sparked significant debate due to its "ambitious" tax-cut promises and plans to further streamline housing development. The Conservatives introduced the "Rustad Rebate," a tax cut that exempts rent, mortgage interest, and strata fees from BC income tax, starting at $1,500/month in 2026 and increasing to $3,000/month by 2029. While this would save a typical BC taxpayer around $105/month in its first year, critics argue that this rebate is a token gesture that does little to tackle the root causes of the housing affordability crisis. A standout promise is to drastically shorten the permit approval process, with a 6-month window for rezoning and 3 months for building permits. However, we have concerns over whether the province has the resources and expertise to enforce these timelines across multiple municipalities, particularly when recent efforts by Vancouver’s Mayor Ken Sim have shown limited success in expediting permits under a similar framework. The Conservatives also target NDP regulations like the Step Code and Net-Zero mandates, which they claim inflate construction costs by 30-40%. However, the critique lacks specifics on which taxes will be cut and by how much, raising doubts about the details of their plan. Critics argue that these promises may not lead to meaningful reductions in home prices and could be offset by new taxes elsewhere. Here are the Conservative Proposals in Brief: 1. Rustad Rebate: Offers BC residents tax deductions for housing expenses, but savings are marginal compared to soaring housing costs. 2. Permit Approval Timelines: Promises to expedite housing approvals but lacks clarity on implementation and enforcement. 3. Repeal of NDP Regulations: Aims to remove certain building codes that allegedly increase construction costs but provides no detailed analysis. 4. Support Transit-Oriented Communities: Emphasizes building complete communities near transit hubs, but developers already incorporate these elements without government mandates. So..? 5. Infrastructure Fund: Proposes a $1 billion annual fund for municipalities, yet doesn’t address the revenue shortfall from proposed tax cuts. Where is the money coming from? 6. New Towns & Land Use: Plans to develop land outside the Agricultural Land Reserve, but the plan remains vague without details on where, how and when this will be achieved. While these proposals offer a mix of promising ideas and ambiguous claims, we are skeptical about whether the party can execute these reforms effectively. It is possible their current platform could exacerbate the housing crisis if not properly funded and executed. September Market Stats The latest market data for September is out and its status quo in the housing market as prices continue to drop. Key highlights include: We ended September with 1,852 sales, marking a 4% decrease year-over-year and a 5th consecutive month of declining sales. Sales are now 26% below the 10-year average, indicating a lackluster fall market. There were 6,144 new listings, up 13% y/y and a substantial 49% increase month-over-month, yet inventory only rose by 3% due to many homes being delisted. Despite the increase in inventory, much of it is considered low quality, with well-qualified buyers struggling to find suitable homes. The overall sales to active ratio is at 13%, indicating a balanced market but also hovering closely to a buyers market. This is the 6th monthly drop and the lowest reading since January 2023. The benchmark price dropped for the 4th month in a row, down 1.4% month-over-month and 7% below the peak in April 2022. At $925,000, the median price fell by $20,000, marking a total drop of $70,000 over four months. Despite rising inventory levels, buyer sentiment remains cautious as quality listings are limited. With election day approaching, it remains to be seen if either party’s housing plan can reverse this trend and provide relief to struggling homeowners and prospective buyers alike.
For decades, the foreign students, new immigrants from China and many other places brought fortune to BC. They spent a lot in foods, restaurants, entertainment, and housings. In 2021 when Canada opened the Stream A and B programs for Hong Kongers, there came another stream of money. However, the immigration policies between 2021 to 2024 has brought in high amounts of low cost labours and families from India. The economic environment has already changed. We have a lot of labour in the market while it’s hardly to have enough businesses to support. We currently needed large amount of affordable housings to sustain the population. We have urgent needs to improve our infrastructure and health supports, but we have no money…
I am 100% behind new community building. We should have a fast train going to remote communities that are more affordable. No need to only focus on densifying BC cities that are already unaffordable.
The housing market is always changing. It goes up and it goes down. If we think reducing the taxes on the development of homes is going to go back to the buyer we are mistaken. A developer will still price the house at the highest price it can sell it for and they are going to keep the profits of not paying the development taxes. It won't reduce the prices. For too long Canada and BC have not built enough purpose built rental properties or non market housing to off set the regular housing market. Build more of both of these and it will stabilize the housing market long term.
the NDP handout policies vs the Conservative hand-up policies. Tax incentives will encourage some of the business-minded investors to provide more housing. These ideas excite me and are encouraging for BC's future.
Small-scale, multi-unit housing [SSMUH] mandated to municipalities in Bill 44 obliterates community planning which includes water availability, sewer, road infrastructure, schools, hospitals and other community buildings/services.
You should investigate how Japan deals with zoning. The federal Gov’t does the whole country and it’s fairly simple cookie cutter process. Also why is no one ever talking about the fact Canada is the second largest country in the world. Why not plan a new city from the ground up like China has done? Over the last 25 years we have seen the biggest transfer of wealth from the young to the older generations. Future buyers who are younger have been screwed while older people have become wealthy by inflating real estate prices. FYI both China & Russia have over 90% homeownership rates. China actually has one of the highest ownership rates for Gen Z.
You're not wrong - future generations have their backs up against the wall with respect to housing. To be fair, a lot of Canada is uninhabitable and there's little no infrastructure to support new cities, though we'd love to see them, here on the coast there's a lot of nuance to our market.. Looking around the world to see where others have found solutions makes a lot of sense and our government does do that. The multiplex idea originated in New Zealand for example.
@@TheVancouverLife Agree about lack of infrastructure and while it will never happen if we were smart we would join the Belt & Road initiative. Heck Laos has high speed rail now we are falling rapidly behind. Infrastructure is key to helping economic growth.
We record remotely so in order to hear the other person speaking, and to avoid an echo effect, headphones are required. Does that make sense or is there something about AirPods specifically you don’t like?
You two need to shake your head and be thankful that a potential government has an idea like this. The current NDP has taken a balanced budget they were handed and turned it into a horrendous deficit, just like they did the last time they were in power in the 90's. These guys are the same bunch that have cleaned up our fiscal situation after NDP financial disasters. Give Rustad a break!
the NDP loves to put future generations into huge debt. They also love winning elections by promising handouts, which discourages our youth from working hard and learning how to invest.
We’ve had our heads shaken from the last decade trying to navigate politics in this country. If you watch the entire video, you’ll notice I mention where I stand on this (hint it’s on the fiscally conservative side). BUT every party’s plan deserves fair criticism and each party’s plan is going to get the same grilling from us because neither party is really consulting with the housing industry. The NDP are going to get their grilling next week. Rent controls, air bnb and many other policies they have are going to get their moment too. Allowing us to be critical of both sides will lead to better discussion, better ideas and better outcomes.
Give Rustad a break? You act like they attacked him personally, they didn't. All they asked was " how? " in regards to his promises of all these savings of " 30-40% " which is more than valid to ask. No matter who is in charge we can't just make money appear out of thin air.
So now Rustard came out and wants to run 11 billion deficit if he is elected. Which is apparently bigger than NDP planned deficit. So much for the fiscally responsible party.
Rustad is proposing to increase the deficit and slow housing starts. Deficits are fine when they after being spent on housing, infrastructure, schools, and hospitals which we all are going to need with the growing population. Rustads idea to just give a massive tax break and not invest in this province will do so much harm
Cut the provincial civil service by 30%. Those of us who've paid for our homes with after tax dollars get no benefit by handing out tax breaks to those whom have not yet paid off their houses. It's unfair! Instead municipal taxation needs to be reformed to lower permit and muni requirement costs to 5% max of the price of a new home like it is in the far more efficient USA. Right now it is more like 30% of the price of a home! This is insanity and its strangling new home building pushing the prices of all homes higher, driving muni costs onto new home buyers instead of sharing the burden with home owners city wide.
Ryan, I disagree with you on the NDP policies being good for housing, especially rental housing. I've seen firsthand multiple long-term tenants being removed from their long-time rentals. This has happened for many reasons, but it all happened once rates went up, and the NDP wouldn't allow rent increases. Not to mention their other control measures for freehold property owners. The bottom line, this has caused many of my investor friends to get out of the business. I see an increase in corporate-run rental buildings and a big decrease in mom-and-pop landlords who usually provide homes with yards to families. These corporate-run rentals are not family-friendly and definitely gouge renters. Not a good situation for future renters unless you like pet-friendly, poorly built, paper-thin walled apartment buildings with upcharges for everything from parking to laundry.
Specifically, I was referring to the multiplex plan or rather the amendments to it that the conservatives have put forward. They don’t make sense. But that doesn’t let the NDP off the hook. Many of their current policies I completely disagree with. I’m being very critical because I’ve been rather disenfranchised with politicians in general over the last decade. if you review their plan, it’s very light on details. Just wait until next week when we tear apart the NDP platform. To be clear, I’m far more fiscally conservative than anything else but good ideas or conversely bad ones, need to be called out no matter the party affiliation.
@@ryandash3736 Good points, and raising more fiscally conservative kids will do BC well. I think the multiplex plan has some good value, but the blanket policies are going to ruin neighbourhoods. Actually, I see this causing bigger problems than solutions with huge pushback from existing owners.
@@DummMoney-rr1fi absolutely valid. No matter how you slice it, we don’t have a middle housing option for growing families in the city and we can blame immigration, under building, foreign investment and overregulation over the last 20 years. All have contributed. Solving the problem (if it even can be) is hard. Though if we believe keeping younger generations and especially young families in the city is important, then we need to find solutions or we will lose community. Just look at the East side versus the West side. What’s more is if you understand the multiplex plan like we do, only about 10% of the available single family lots in Metro Vancouver will work anyway. Typical 32x122 lots, just don’t pencil. ✏️
It's true. A lot of landlords that I know are exiting the market. The rent cap is nowhere near the increase in the other fees, so they just gave up. It's a false impression that rent caps effectively control rental rates. While this may be true initially, but only once landlords decide to evict tenants. New rental supply is often depressed. New renters bear the burden of a low-supply, often higher-priced rental market.
Good, balanced analysis. I think the NDP plan is better than the alternative. I personally don't think Rustad is a serious person, much less a competent leader for our province.
The NDP is up next week. Too much information to cover in one episode. We’ve given politicians on every side a chance. I think it’s ok to be critical, to ask tough questions, to ask for the details.
Connect With Us To Talk Real Estate:
📆 calendly.com/thevancouverlife
_________________________________
With the BC provincial election approaching on October 19th, housing policy has become a focal point for both major parties-the NDP and the Conservatives. Each party has released its housing platform, but the Conservative Party’s approach has sparked significant debate due to its "ambitious" tax-cut promises and plans to further streamline housing development.
The Conservatives introduced the "Rustad Rebate," a tax cut that exempts rent, mortgage interest, and strata fees from BC income tax, starting at $1,500/month in 2026 and increasing to $3,000/month by 2029. While this would save a typical BC taxpayer around $105/month in its first year, critics argue that this rebate is a token gesture that does little to tackle the root causes of the housing affordability crisis.
A standout promise is to drastically shorten the permit approval process, with a 6-month window for rezoning and 3 months for building permits. However, we have concerns over whether the province has the resources and expertise to enforce these timelines across multiple municipalities, particularly when recent efforts by Vancouver’s Mayor Ken Sim have shown limited success in expediting permits under a similar framework.
The Conservatives also target NDP regulations like the Step Code and Net-Zero mandates, which they claim inflate construction costs by 30-40%. However, the critique lacks specifics on which taxes will be cut and by how much, raising doubts about the details of their plan. Critics argue that these promises may not lead to meaningful reductions in home prices and could be offset by new taxes elsewhere.
Here are the Conservative Proposals in Brief:
1. Rustad Rebate: Offers BC residents tax deductions for housing expenses, but savings are marginal compared to soaring housing costs.
2. Permit Approval Timelines: Promises to expedite housing approvals but lacks clarity on implementation and enforcement.
3. Repeal of NDP Regulations: Aims to remove certain building codes that allegedly increase construction costs but provides no detailed analysis.
4. Support Transit-Oriented Communities: Emphasizes building complete communities near transit hubs, but developers already incorporate these elements without government mandates. So..?
5. Infrastructure Fund: Proposes a $1 billion annual fund for municipalities, yet doesn’t address the revenue shortfall from proposed tax cuts. Where is the money coming from?
6. New Towns & Land Use: Plans to develop land outside the Agricultural Land Reserve, but the plan remains vague without details on where, how and when this will be achieved.
While these proposals offer a mix of promising ideas and ambiguous claims, we are skeptical about whether the party can execute these reforms effectively. It is possible their current platform could exacerbate the housing crisis if not properly funded and executed.
September Market Stats
The latest market data for September is out and its status quo in the housing market as prices continue to drop. Key highlights include:
We ended September with 1,852 sales, marking a 4% decrease year-over-year and a 5th consecutive month of declining sales. Sales are now 26% below the 10-year average, indicating a lackluster fall market.
There were 6,144 new listings, up 13% y/y and a substantial 49% increase month-over-month, yet inventory only rose by 3% due to many homes being delisted. Despite the increase in inventory, much of it is considered low quality, with well-qualified buyers struggling to find suitable homes.
The overall sales to active ratio is at 13%, indicating a balanced market but also hovering closely to a buyers market. This is the 6th monthly drop and the lowest reading since January 2023.
The benchmark price dropped for the 4th month in a row, down 1.4% month-over-month and 7% below the peak in April 2022. At $925,000, the median price fell by $20,000, marking a total drop of $70,000 over four months.
Despite rising inventory levels, buyer sentiment remains cautious as quality listings are limited. With election day approaching, it remains to be seen if either party’s housing plan can reverse this trend and provide relief to struggling homeowners and prospective buyers alike.
For decades, the foreign students, new immigrants from China and many other places brought fortune to BC. They spent a lot in foods, restaurants, entertainment, and housings. In 2021 when Canada opened the Stream A and B programs for Hong Kongers, there came another stream of money. However, the immigration policies between 2021 to 2024 has brought in high amounts of low cost labours and families from India. The economic environment has already changed. We have a lot of labour in the market while it’s hardly to have enough businesses to support. We currently needed large amount of affordable housings to sustain the population. We have urgent needs to improve our infrastructure and health supports, but we have no money…
I am 100% behind new community building. We should have a fast train going to remote communities that are more affordable. No need to only focus on densifying BC cities that are already unaffordable.
Absolutely, there's a lot of up zoning that can help but creating a fast train where new communities can expand would help in so many ways.
It looks like near bottom. Rate cuts signal interest rates will only drop from here so it will recover
The housing market is always changing. It goes up and it goes down. If we think reducing the taxes on the development of homes is going to go back to the buyer we are mistaken. A developer will still price the house at the highest price it can sell it for and they are going to keep the profits of not paying the development taxes. It won't reduce the prices. For too long Canada and BC have not built enough purpose built rental properties or non market housing to off set the regular housing market. Build more of both of these and it will stabilize the housing market long term.
the NDP handout policies vs the Conservative hand-up policies. Tax incentives will encourage some of the business-minded investors to provide more housing. These ideas excite me and are encouraging for BC's future.
Small-scale, multi-unit housing [SSMUH] mandated to municipalities in Bill 44 obliterates community planning which includes water availability, sewer, road infrastructure, schools, hospitals and other community buildings/services.
Let the price sit there as it is not realistic for the general user to buy.
this tax cut is amazing if you're bring in 100k plus a year!
You should investigate how Japan deals with zoning. The federal Gov’t does the whole country and it’s fairly simple cookie cutter process.
Also why is no one ever talking about the fact Canada is the second largest country in the world. Why not plan a new city from the ground up like China has done?
Over the last 25 years we have seen the biggest transfer of wealth from the young to the older generations. Future buyers who are younger have been screwed while older people have become wealthy by inflating real estate prices.
FYI both China & Russia have over 90% homeownership rates. China actually has one of the highest ownership rates for Gen Z.
We are running high profit housing polices not national housing polices like China or Russia as you mentioned.
You're not wrong - future generations have their backs up against the wall with respect to housing. To be fair, a lot of Canada is uninhabitable and there's little no infrastructure to support new cities, though we'd love to see them, here on the coast there's a lot of nuance to our market.. Looking around the world to see where others have found solutions makes a lot of sense and our government does do that. The multiplex idea originated in New Zealand for example.
@@TheVancouverLife Agree about lack of infrastructure and while it will never happen if we were smart we would join the Belt & Road initiative. Heck Laos has high speed rail now we are falling rapidly behind.
Infrastructure is key to helping economic growth.
People just losing their buying power.. it’s crazy to attract people to lend with lower interest rates…
Is this a gag, or... what's up with your AirPods?
We record remotely so in order to hear the other person speaking, and to avoid an echo effect, headphones are required. Does that make sense or is there something about AirPods specifically you don’t like?
@@TheVancouverLife Angle dude. :D
You look like you gonna poke someone's eye out with those tips.
Insightful video btw.
@@yuchunc You'll have to bring that up with Tim Apple
Instead, can the government build affordable houses for people? If the price stays, rents stays… more middle classes will forced to go to the streets.
We need a reset in real estate and it’s coming! 2026
You two need to shake your head and be thankful that a potential government has an idea like this. The current NDP has taken a balanced budget they were handed and turned it into a horrendous deficit, just like they did the last time they were in power in the 90's. These guys are the same bunch that have cleaned up our fiscal situation after NDP financial disasters. Give Rustad a break!
the NDP loves to put future generations into huge debt. They also love winning elections by promising handouts, which discourages our youth from working hard and learning how to invest.
We’ve had our heads shaken from the last decade trying to navigate politics in this country. If you watch the entire video, you’ll notice I mention where I stand on this (hint it’s on the fiscally conservative side). BUT every party’s plan deserves fair criticism and each party’s plan is going to get the same grilling from us because neither party is really consulting with the housing industry. The NDP are going to get their grilling next week. Rent controls, air bnb and many other policies they have are going to get their moment too. Allowing us to be critical of both sides will lead to better discussion, better ideas and better outcomes.
Give Rustad a break? You act like they attacked him personally, they didn't. All they asked was " how? " in regards to his promises of all these savings of " 30-40% " which is more than valid to ask. No matter who is in charge we can't just make money appear out of thin air.
So now Rustard came out and wants to run 11 billion deficit if he is elected. Which is apparently bigger than NDP planned deficit.
So much for the fiscally responsible party.
Rustad is proposing to increase the deficit and slow housing starts.
Deficits are fine when they after being spent on housing, infrastructure, schools, and hospitals which we all are going to need with the growing population.
Rustads idea to just give a massive tax break and not invest in this province will do so much harm
But who are the idiots who voted for the NDP in the first place ?
Cut the provincial civil service by 30%. Those of us who've paid for our homes with after tax dollars get no benefit by handing out tax breaks to those whom have not yet paid off their houses. It's unfair! Instead municipal taxation needs to be reformed to lower permit and muni requirement costs to 5% max of the price of a new home like it is in the far more efficient USA. Right now it is more like 30% of the price of a home! This is insanity and its strangling new home building pushing the prices of all homes higher, driving muni costs onto new home buyers instead of sharing the burden with home owners city wide.
Great points in here!
Ryan, I disagree with you on the NDP policies being good for housing, especially rental housing. I've seen firsthand multiple long-term tenants being removed from their long-time rentals. This has happened for many reasons, but it all happened once rates went up, and the NDP wouldn't allow rent increases. Not to mention their other control measures for freehold property owners. The bottom line, this has caused many of my investor friends to get out of the business. I see an increase in corporate-run rental buildings and a big decrease in mom-and-pop landlords who usually provide homes with yards to families. These corporate-run rentals are not family-friendly and definitely gouge renters. Not a good situation for future renters unless you like pet-friendly, poorly built, paper-thin walled apartment buildings with upcharges for everything from parking to laundry.
Specifically, I was referring to the multiplex plan or rather the amendments to it that the conservatives have put forward. They don’t make sense. But that doesn’t let the NDP off the hook. Many of their current policies I completely disagree with. I’m being very critical because I’ve been rather disenfranchised with politicians in general over the last decade. if you review their plan, it’s very light on details. Just wait until next week when we tear apart the NDP platform. To be clear, I’m far more fiscally conservative than anything else but good ideas or conversely bad ones, need to be called out no matter the party affiliation.
@@ryandash3736 Good points, and raising more fiscally conservative kids will do BC well. I think the multiplex plan has some good value, but the blanket policies are going to ruin neighbourhoods. Actually, I see this causing bigger problems than solutions with huge pushback from existing owners.
@@DummMoney-rr1fi absolutely valid. No matter how you slice it, we don’t have a middle housing option for growing families in the city and we can blame immigration, under building, foreign investment and overregulation over the last 20 years. All have contributed. Solving the problem (if it even can be) is hard. Though if we believe keeping younger generations and especially young families in the city is important, then we need to find solutions or we will lose community. Just look at the East side versus the West side. What’s more is if you understand the multiplex plan like we do, only about 10% of the available single family lots in Metro Vancouver will work anyway. Typical 32x122 lots, just don’t pencil. ✏️
It's true. A lot of landlords that I know are exiting the market. The rent cap is nowhere near the increase in the other fees, so they just gave up.
It's a false impression that rent caps effectively control rental rates. While this may be true initially, but only once landlords decide to evict tenants. New rental supply is often depressed. New renters bear the burden of a low-supply, often higher-priced rental market.
Good, balanced analysis. I think the NDP plan is better than the alternative.
I personally don't think Rustad is a serious person, much less a competent leader for our province.
Told ya so.
you made it!! Always glad to see you, where are rents heading in 2025, 2026, and 2027? And who are you voting for? I'm voting for Rustad.
Which part?!
@@TheVancouverLife All of it.
Better than ndp for sure … give them a chance
The NDP is up next week. Too much information to cover in one episode. We’ve given politicians on every side a chance. I think it’s ok to be critical, to ask tough questions, to ask for the details.
@@ryandash3736 has the invite been put out to Eby, Rustad or Ravi to come on the show?
@@DummMoney-rr1fiwe haven’t but you know, that’s a great idea. I’ll reach out and let’s see what they say!