Vancouver Hardest Place in Canada to Raise Young Families

It’s no secret that housing prices in Vancouver are ridiculously high when compared to the rest of the country – and with many places in the world, with the average Vancouver home cost around $750,000. This makes expenses like mortgage payments more challenging than ever, but what about all the other things? Food, clothing, daycare, utilities, and everything else that goes with life? It’s challenging. And if things don’t change in Vancouver, and the rest of B.C. very soon, the province could go from being one of the best places in the country to live, to one of the most dire.
The stats coming out of British Columbia economy are frightening indeed. According to a study done at the University of British Columbia’s Human Early Learning Partnership, the household income of young families from the ages of 29 to 34 has decreased (with inflation adjustments) by 6% since 1976. And we’ve already talked about the high home prices. All of that means that more families, especially those that are younger, find it nearly impossible to live in the province – even with the interest rates on mortgages being so low right now.
In addition to all of this glum news, let’s not forget those soaring home prices. Although you still would’ve paid a lot of money for a home in B.C. last year, it still wouldn’t be as much as you’ll pay now – home prices have gone up in the province by 6.5% since 2010, and their forecasted to go even higher, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
With all of this news, it’s no wonder that young families in British Columbia are struggling. And, the author of the study, Paul Kershaw, at the U of BC might just be right. In a report to the Vancouver Sun, Kershaw said, “B.C. is now the hardest province in which to raise a family. And that’s because we’re the only jurisdiction in the country where household income for young couples has actually fallen behind where it was a generation ago.”