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Comment by tempestn | Hacker News Reader

The USD median house price in Vancouver is misleading too, because it wasn't long ago that the dollar was at parity, and incomes certainly haven't changed much as the dollar has dropped by a third.

Anyway, so far the effect on Victoria seems to be our own mini (compared to Vancouver; still nuts for most of the world) housing boom. I have three couples of close friends all house-hunting right now, and it's not a fun time to be doing so. I can't imagine committing to pay the better part of a million dollars for something with less than a day's deliberation, no time for an inspection, and a need to offer over asking price to even have a hope of "winning".

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Honest question here - why not just rent and wait it out?

edit/from the article; Rentals are hard to come by, and just as unaffordable. The vacancy rate of 0.8 percent is one of the lowest in the country, and the average monthly rent of C$937 for a bachelor suite is tied at highest with the cost in Toronto, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Rents for newly built units and renovated basement suites are pricier.

You've pretty much got it. Still, while expensive, renting is still much more affordable than buying. The other problem is, decent SFH rentals are very difficult to come by. Here in Victoria, my friends who are looking for houses are all starting families and would like more space than most apartments offer. Many of them would be fine with renting as long as prices are unbalanced, but the rental market selection if you want something larger than a 2-bedroom apartment is really sparse. Plus, many of the places you can find are only there until the owners manage to sell them, which obviously isn't ideal if you're looking to settle down.

> renting is still much more affordable than buying

Because rent is constrained by wages. Land prices are constrained by fiat issuance. Fiat issuance is constrained by credibility.

> pay the better part of a million dollars for something with less than a day's deliberation

> the effect on Victoria seems to be our own mini housing boom.

Sounds a bit confusing. Are houses in Victoria priced at a Million dollars?

"The better part of" a million dollars. I believe the SFH median in Victoria is around $600,000 CAD. (Which of course means half of them cost more than that.) My point is that it's a lot of money to spend with no time to think it over or do due diligence.

dropped a quarter not a third... don't make it even worse than reality.

I was thinking of the peak to trough drop of 1.05 -> 0.70 (exactly 1/3). But you're right, currently we're at 1/4 off of parity.

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