This type of policy was tried out in West Vancouver last year when a Westbank condo development was sold exclusively to locals for 30 days and then opened up to Vancouver residents for the following 60 days. It didn’t work then and it won’t work now. We need to be very careful about this kind of regulations.

We’ve already taxed foreign buyers 15% and this type of initiative makes the real estate market inaccessible to buyers. Developers have a right to sell to whomever they want and shouldn’t be told they can’t sell to the highest bidder. Although regulations are important in real estate to prevent corruption, we shouldn’t be telling companies they don’t have the right to make a profit.

We don’t tell Starbucks they can’t sell lattes to tourists. Although it may seem like a silly example, it is a valid comparison nevertheless. (Of course, Starbucks can always make more lattes but land is finite.) The open market and consumers should be able to set the price based on supply and demand without intervention by government.

 The Mayor and Council are going about this the wrong way and are only trying to pander to their voters. It may make good semantics but as an actual policy. it won’t even achieve what it’s set out to do. What will end up happening is that instead of condos selling quickly to Vancouverites, it will eventually go to the highest bidder anyways since many locals still won’t be able to afford the prices. It will just be unnecessary red tape for the developers, hoops to jump through before they sell the condos to the people who were going to buy it in the first place.

Vancouver does have a problem with affordability but limiting who the developer can sell to is not the answer. It’s time to find a real solution and not an ill-conceived band-aid. If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home contact me HERE