Metro Vancouver renters praying for a housing crash, new poll says

Who’s praying for a real estate crash in Metro Vancouver? Renters, according to a new poll.

The survey by the Angus Reid Institute found that 67 per cent of renters in the region want to see prices fall by at least 30 per cent.

Another 19 per cent of renters said they’d like to see a smaller correction of around 10 per cent.

While a hefty majority of renters said they wanted to see prices crater, perhaps unsurprisingly, the results were reversed for home owners.

Just 20 per cent said they’d like to see a price correction in the realm of 30 per cent — the same percentage that said they’d like to see prices continue to rise.

Despite this, nearly three-quarters of owners — 74 per cent — agreed that home prices in Metro Vancouver were “unreasonably high.”

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Nearly a third of owners — 31 per cent — said they’d like prices to stay where they are, while 29 per cent said they’d like to see a 10 per cent dip.

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Overall, 62 per cent of Metro Vancouver respondents said they’d like to see some type of price drop.

Angus Reid Institute executive director Shachi Kurl said respondents felt that neither the previous BC Liberal government nor the current NDP government had made much headway on the issue.

READ MORE: Metro Vancouver housing supply at three-year high, but prices still up: REBGV

“In this market, people aren’t necessarily feeling the relief that they are looking for, and that goes for renters and owners, although for owners to a lesser extent,” she said.

Kurl added that the exodus of affordability refugees from the Metro Vancouver region isn’t helping matters.

“There is an uptick in migration to places like Victoria, Prince George, other places that are more affordable,” she said.

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Owners were split on whether the region’s high housing prices were benefiting them (30 per cent) or hurting them (28 per cent). A full three-quarters of renters said the prices were hurting them, while just five per cent said they were a benefit.

Six in 10 respondents said they thought foreign buyers were behind the region’s sky-high prices, while four in 10 put the blame on “wealthy individuals in general.”

Two-thirds of respondents said housing was the most important issue in the region, followed by 36 per cent who said transit and transportation, and 22 per cent who said homelessness and poverty.

The poll was conducted from May 25 to May 29 among a representative sample of 719 adult Canadians who are members of Maru Voice Canada, an online market research group.

The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by ARI.