REAL E S TAT E ISSUE JUST HOW SCREWED ARE WE?
that she’s fortunate to have had the opportunity to become a homeowner. But having to compromise on location and taking on a 90-minute daily commute—one way, without traffic—has affected her work-life balance immensely, she says. Given her income, renting in Vancouver isn’t ideal, either. “Salaries are not that high here,” she laments. “And then, when you consider what it costs to buy a property, it’s kind of an unfair balance. If I didn’t have support from my parents, I wouldn’t have been able to do it at all. So it makes you feel like you have to depend on someone—you can’t be independent in this city. And it’s really unfair to other people, too, because not everyone has support like that.” Both Porter and Singh admit that, on more than one occasion, they’ve thought about how much easier renting and owning property in Vancouver would be if they had a long-term partner. To have ambitious, fully capable individuals—many of whom are successful in their own right—feel like they need the assistance of a spouse or companion to get ahead in the city is concerning, especially during a time when self-sufficiency is so greatly valued. “Certainly, given the state of both the rental and homeownership markets in the city of Vancouver, it has made living single a lot harder,” observes Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University. “Unless one has access to wealth, living alone is hard to do.” Yan notes that there are singletons who are making it work in Vancouver, whether that be through increased job security or opting for more accessible living situations like rooming houses. However, problems arise when folks who are at or reaching the peak of their careers are driven to relocate from the region due to unaffordability, resulting in what’s been called “brain drain” or a loss of educated and skilled labourers. “I think it carries friction into companies and institutions,” explains
Yan, who believes that housing prices have become “decoupled” from local incomes. “They can’t keep people just as they’re entering the apex of their working lives—and that ultimately has consequences for how businesses can or cannot grow in the city.” For Porter, the effects go beyond the local economy: making space for singles—and, really, people of all
backgrounds, ages and relationship statuses—is key to the fabric of society. “For a city to be interesting and vibrant, you need different people,” she says. “And when those people aren’t here because they can’t find a place to live—when you don’t have that diversity of families, singles and different races and incomes—then I think your city becomes less vibrant.”
BUYING SOLO
In a city where housing prices consistently tower over the incomes of even two-person households, here’s how a few savvy singletons are getting a foot on the property ladder.
THE ONE WHO PARTNERED WITH HER SISTER—AND ZEROED IN ON FORECLOSURES “My sister and I decided to copurchase a property [in 2015] as an investment. This made it a lot easier to save up for a down payment, and, realistically, we knew that it was the only way we could afford to buy a place in Metro Vancouver. Our strategy was to look heavily into foreclosures and find one in a good area that we could renovate as needed. We lived in our apartment for six months together and then I got a roommate, whom I lived with for three years. Now my sister and I are renting it out, which pays the mortgage with a bit of extra income for us. My goal is to eventually own a property in Vancouver, but the market is crazy right now! Hopefully, in a few years, things will change.”—Tanya, 25, owns a two-bedroom apartment in Burnaby
THE ONE WHO RECORDED EVERY CENT SPENT “I had the idea that I wanted to move out sometime after I finished university and got my first job [in 2014]. I just didn’t have a plan in mind. I was looking at how much I was making and thought, ‘I could save at least 30 percent per paycheque, and in a few years, maybe I could have enough for a down payment.’ And then I realized that when you live at home, saving 30 percent is actually pretty easy as long as you’re somewhat diligent. That’s when I started tracking what I was spending my money on, and I made adjustments and those adjustments became habits. I also had to make some compromises: because I work in Vancouver, the idea was to move to Vancouver. But I soon realized I could probably only afford a down payment somewhere else. I withdrew money from my RRSP, too, which wasn’t a gigantic portion but still helped.” —Kevin, 28, owns a one-bedroom condo in New Westminster
THE ONE WHO RELIED ON GOOD OLDFASHIONED HARD WORK—AND A LITTLE HELP FROM STARBUCKS “For the majority of my early to mid-20s, I worked two or three jobs at a time, one of them as a barista at Starbucks. Fortunately, as an employee you receive amazing benefits—one of them being access to restricted stock units—and, after working for the company for six years, I was able to use them to contribute to my down payment. That, combined with savings, investments, some assistance from my mom and my participation in the [now defunct] BC Home Partnership Program, aided in my ability to purchase a home. I also bought at the right time [in 2016], before the market went up. If I had waited, I don’t know if I would’ve been able to purchase my current home.”—Alyx, 27, owns a onebedroom condo in Coquitlam
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