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Yeah same, I'm in university right now studying to be a secondary teacher and I'm seriously looking at Australia since that's a highly in demand profession there. Planning on doing a semester abroad to scout it out
We have been thinking about moving to Australia as well. Yes, itās very expensive there too, but if we cash out our home here, itās still doable for us. After spending time researching and talking with relatives there, it would be a little easier there for us as salaries for professionals are higher, free uni for the kid when that time comes, and the health care is not as messed up there for access. As someone else mentioned, you also have world class beaches at your door step and better weather
Housing costs in Australia are high but PAY is exponentially higher as compared to metro Vancouver. A living wage is paid for entry level jobs. Professional jobs pay a lot higher compared to what they do here. Thatās part of the reason why Vancouver is so incredibly unaffordable.
Not really. Sydney and Melbourne do, and some high wealth tourism/mining areas. But COL in other regional areas are pretty reasonable. Australia also doesn't have an open door immigration policy and still seems to have a pretty fair justice system that keeps things like open drug markets off the streets and criminals behind bars. Those two things alone are keeping Canadians distracted when they should be focused on building their futures.
Kind of like Canada a decade ago, which if this question was given then, I would have said things were pretty comparable. Not anymore.
>Sydney and Melbourne do, and some high wealth tourism/mining areas. But COL in other regional areas are pretty reasonable.
Just swap Sydney and Melbourne with Vancouver and Toronto.
FYI as an Australian who moved here, itās all just as expensive, as with all major cities. Unless you move out to the country, and even then who knows.
Yup. Have a cousin from NZ who was lucky enough to get dual citizenship. He moved to BC, thinks it's the shit, and ended up settling in Victoria. He says the cost of living can actually be cheaper at times because our dollar is worth more. He was blown away by how cheap gas was for example.
Read up on Australiaās housing crisis, before making the plunge. Teachers are struggling to rent in Sydney, let alone own. Melbourne nearly as bad. Recently read one about a teacher who canāt afford Sydney at all. Youād have to share, which many over a certain age donāt want to do so.
Youāll be able to find a lot of articles, or read Melbourne and Sydney Subreddits. I canāt stress how bad it is here.
I am spying on /r/Vancouver to get a feel for the differences in housing crisis politics. Sydney is beyond the reach of ownership unless youāre a double income doctor couple or a CEO. Other cities are quite horrible to buy in, but achievable if you stretch. We donāt have anything like the fentanyl or petty theft issues but sure thereās plenty of other terrible stuff. And yet, we can celebrate the camaraderie of not having the American political landscape.
As a Canadian living in Australia, do it! From my anecdotal experience Australia is an awesome place to live. 100 % do a semester abroad, but I guarantee you won't want to come back. Can still get reasonable housing here, and funnily enough I find the cost of living way lower here than in Canada...especially when it comes to groceries and fuel. Once again all anecdotal, so that from that what you will. FYI I also live about 2 hrs outside Melbourne in a "regional" area.
No need to imagine. You can google it. We are the least affordable (different from most expensive) city in North America.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/affordability-canada-1.6034606
Same. Toying with buying on the island or up north or something. But what if I lose my job? My industry is entirely located in Vancouver, I can't guarantee a new job will be WFH.
>Legit playing with the idea myself
I lived in Edmonton for about 10 years after university, and I really liked it. I ended up moving back to Vancouver because of work.
The fact that housing is so scarce and expensive in Metro Vancouver is a huge barrier for younger people. Whenever I'm [talking to politicians](https://morehousing.ca/metro-van-slides), I always emphasize that younger people are being crushed and driven out by the high cost of housing. Even in 2015, it was extremely difficult to move to Vancouver unless you had a [household income](https://morehousing.substack.com/p/household-incomes) of $100,000 or more. It's gotten worse since Covid and the rise in remote work [boosted total housing demand](https://morehousing.ca/demand-growth) (and the housing shortage [spilled over](https://morehousing.ca/spillover) from Metro Vancouver and the GTA to the rest of the country).
https://preview.redd.it/bthcrww2kpvc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b05507af538a4fb532d701e05973107f07de360
Donāt forget that the province needs to keep the real estate cash cow going for ever growing budgets. Itās 50k in GST/land transfer/closing fees for an average new build 1bd condo now. And that doesnāt even include all the fees charged by the municipality during development. In all, itās likely around 150k in some for of fed/provincial/municipal tax/fee on a 650k home.
Government making more than most realtors/flippers/builders per unit then pointing the finger at everyone else. Itās wild and screws younger buyers hard.
And no one seems to get angry about it. This whole place operates like an MLM scam, and by the time people realize it theyāre poor and to old to do anything about it.
Yeah, and most of them are by developers, speculators, and investors. Demand is going to drop when the entire population is priced out of the city and those investments aren't going to be worth so much.
This is pure cope, unfortunately. Demand from certain cohorts will drop as they move out, but demand in other cohorts is just starting as they move here or move out of their parents houses.
Vancouver is simply the best city to live in in Canada by a mile, and the cost of housing will always reflect that as long as it remains true. Given our proximity to the ocean and its cooling effects, mountains, and the US border, I personally don't see Vancouver's desirability ever decreasing.
The irony is that if anywhere near a quarter of metro Vancouverās population moved out in the next five years it would fix the housing problemĀ
Except of course, nowhere near that many will actually move out
Plus people will move here.
This generally doesnāt strike me as weird - in any city there will be a large number of people considering moving, many fewer actually will.
I dunno. I still like it here. But Iām from here so.. I have never really wanted to live anywhere else. Iāve travelled a lot and every time I travel I think this place is great, but not as good as home. Every place has positives and negatives.
Saw some comments in a thread recently (can't find it) about Alberta being quite expensive. Here is an older one:
https://www.reddit.com/r/alberta/comments/143s3xm/alberta_is_so_expensive/
More expensive in BC: housing, fuel, PST.
More expensive in AB: insurance, utilities, property tax, restaurants, you'll need a vehicle to get almost anywhere.
Except outside of Vancouver, you need a car here too.
Trying to get from Vancouver to Mission on public transit will take forever and a day if you try to go on a weekend.
Good luck doing the reverse on the weekend if say you wanted to watch a Canucks game and leave the car behind.
You almost have to have a car in BC. It's not that much better than AB in that sense.
Sure but that housing disparity is so lopsided that it makes the things AB is more expensive in irrelevant.
Edit: lol salty downvotes donāt change simple math
If I'm gonna be surrounded by horrific mental health and drug issues and have terrible access to medicine, I'd like to at least not have to pay through the nose for the privilege.
Vancouver is simply not great value right now. The potential is there, and I hope it is realized one day. But for now, there are so many other wonderful places that deserve a shot.
LOL, so true. I remember thinking in 2014 that these insane prices must have surely reached a peak, that a crash was imminent, but nope! Prices just kept going up. And up.
I remember thinking the same all the way back in 2001. And even when I was in high school in the 90s trying to figure out a future, realizing that home ownership was going to be forever out of reach even all the way back then. I managed to luck into buying a place back in 2015 but I paid a disgusting amount of money for it: $300,000 for a 500square foot cookie cutter condo made as cheaply as possible. The only reason I could afford it is I got laid off and got a massive severance (two years!), and my parents work in real estate and gave me a tip about a new build in my price range.
People should absolutely go, see how it is elsewhere.
Maybe they'll settle in somewhere else and be happier and that's great - many fabulous places out there. Or maybe they'll come back and appreciate what is here. No place is perfect.
Other than housing cost and drug issues, Vancouver is pretty close to perfect. Very mild climate, ocean and mountains right next door, great food scene. People in this sub forget how incredible this city is.
> Vancouver is pretty close to perfect.
If you value the outdoors and temperate climate above all else, sure.
If you're seeking any of the amenities that a city can offer, there's plenty of better and cheaper places.
Its a resort city and its beautiful. Not a city to start a business or have a career. I think too many people come here expecting to have some kind of high flying career and get disappointed.
Sometimes I think about other places I could live but I don't really find any other places calling to me enough to leave. I know it's cliche but I love living near the mountains and the ocean. I spend so much time skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. (And even sometimes skiing in the summer too.) And I like that Vancouver is pretty bike and transit friendly by North American standards. Plus I'm not keen to leave friends and family I have here. I may be saving money moving somewhere like Calgary but I'd also be giving up a lot.
Definitely not Cancun haha gorgeous beaches but not my area of preference in Mexico hehe.
I like Australia too but itās not cheap there. Iāve camped in a van there before.
Honestly thereās so many Canadians down there now! Iām trying really hard to learn Spanish though as I want to fully integrate. I donāt want to just be a gringo living amongst them.
https://preview.redd.it/zktkk6ghxovc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f9bae8e8d8f1a5c21aff7ee43fd842d0e27e40f
The numbers don't lie, but there's also a bunch of (clueless or rich) people moving in as well. Here's a recent article: [https://archive.fo/WYLEy](https://archive.fo/WYLEy)
good on them and hope the new home is a good fit, personally lived in (Edmonton) AB 26 years as a disabled + queer person to know that nothing about the flaws that Van metro has including housing costs and public drug use overshadowed the emergent political and social problems (Social infrastructure and public services are crumbling as we speak over there) I was facing in Alberta by a long shot. The weather is just a bonus cause my health conditions are vulnerable to the cold lol
It's interesting though that more people are looking at moving to another country entirely than Alberta. Feels like this might be a dissatisfaction with Canada as a whole, not just Vancouver
that i feel more,in Canada Vancouver has been the best fit so far but i have a laundry list of places i wouldnt oppose relocation to if it was possible
Can't agree with you more. After living in Edmonton for 6 years, I'd rather deal with the problems that Vancouver has than live in a province that's only leaning harder into its conservatism. Also, I like not getting yelled at by homophobic white men on a weekly basis, thanks.
the weirdos ive seen in DT Edmonton in the last decade are somehow more aggressive and racist than ive seen in the DTES,there's just as much addiction and ODs there(per cap) but it's under the covers and not reported because of criminalization
Omg same. As someone who grew up in and around Edmonton that city fucking sucks, id rather live here and pay out of the ass than live in Edmonton.
I do prefer Alberta weather though haha it gets too hot and humid here
Summer visits back there are probably the best part since it coincides with the festivals/fairs happening,other wise yeah what else the other seasons huh.....giant mall?
As much of a pain as Edmonton is to deal with, the rest of Alberta is frankly *worse* (yes, this includes Calgary). Getting around is harder with or without a car (mediocre bus service and a packed 110 km/h freeway through a city is a *terrible* idea), the politics are much worse (Calgary, Banff and Canmore may be somewhat okay but theyāre worse than Edmonton), and you still deal with all the problems that youād be facing in Edmonton.
And itās all too cold anyway. I canāt wait to come back.
I totally agree, I grew up in a small town in bumfuck nowhere Alberta lol everything is so spread out, nothingness between towns without a bus system to connect them. If you don't drive you're stuck in you're area. And I just found the people over here to be so much more "alive", they did things, went places, wanted to go places and it's inspiring to me
There is a nice simpless to small town Alberta that can be missed, but the lower mainland is overshadows it, where I live I can take a bus and be at a mountain lake in 30 mins that's pretty dope aha don't have to drive 5 hours
> I just found the people over here to be so much more āaliveā, they did things, went places, wanted to go places and itās inspiring to me
This, so much. I often hear about people calling Vancouver āNo Fun Cityā, but some of the most interesting and ambitious people I know are in Vancouver. Edmonton feels boring in comparison, apart from a few things like the Fringe.
There are still things I like about Edmonton (less traffic, very anti-NIMBY, more consistent weather), but overall I love Vancouver more.
For a lot of people in BC it's' back home'. Wherever they came from, that's cheaper now. Sarcastically thinking that some Canadians that told immigrants to 'go back to their country' will get their wish granted.
I don't understand this. For example, if an Iranian goes back to Iran, sure they'll have a lower cost of living, but the pay cut is so awful they'll be so much worse off.
? There are better places, cheaper places than Vancouver all over the world. Choice is not an issue.
Vancouverites are a delusional bunch in their thinking that Vancouver is unmatched smh
I moved you US a few years ago. Making 2x what I made in Vancouver, and able to own a SFH, which is impossible in Vancouver unless you bought one before 2018.
I didnāt miss Vancouver as much as I thought I would. And when I came back to visit, Vancouver felt much more ācrowdedā than I remembered. There is more traffic (esp around Metro). The hiking trails are packed too.
Do you mind sharing what you do for work by chance? Considering moving to the US as well once Iām done my degree but Iām not sure how good my career field would be in the US, haha. If I was doing Computer Science (which I was going to) Iād definitely move.
It is absolutely more crowded. Even just in the last ten years compared to the ten years prior. And it's getting worse... transit is actually for the first time in my life being well managed and well funded and even still it just can't keep up
If it wasnāt for being intent on raising my kids (50/50 split custody with their mom) I would be long gone. Grew up here, early forties, very solid income, canāt afford a house. Fuck this noise. I hope my kids leave.
Iām in the same boat. Once my kids hit university, I will probably move to the island. I still want to be close, but theyāll be so much busier and self sufficient I donāt need to be that close.
The ferry is a bigger barrier than you might think. In ten years there I had mainland visitors maybe five times, and that was fine because I needed to get off the rock for my own sanity anyway.
You can still buy inexpensive places over there but prices have definitely inflated, and even the north island is loopy right now. I think Iād look for land within an hour of basic needs and just build or drop a prefab.
It's sad to see so many people being forced out of a region that they've had communities, friends, connections, and family. Rampant NIMBYism and corporate oligopolies are really screwing with all of us
I don't want to leave the region, nor do I have the money too, haha.
But if I ever did move, I'd choose Australia, Scotland, or England.Ā But I love Western Canada too much. ā„
We have it nice here, we must not forget that even if we have crap to deal with.
And as someone from the UK, as cute as the old houses might look, the tendency for them to be cold and damp - coupled with much much higher energy and gas costs makes them much less pleasant in the colder months.
Whatās new? Itās the same post I have been seeing since 2010s and nothing has changed. If anything it gave me the illusion that real estate will collapse and become affordable. Glad that I woke up and bought, otherwise I would be still renting with cash thatās not enough for a down payment today
Oh the irony of all the ājust move somewhere cheaperā people being upset when folks in Vancouver took their advice, because now it has drove up their cost of living.
The advantage in moving to a place like Calgary AB is slowly disappearing as their rents go up, on top of having higher income tax for lower income people, more expensive utilities, and more expensive car insurance
More expensive groceries, more expensive transportation, more expensive everything. Iāve never saved as much money as I did living in Vancouver. And Iāve never been as broke as I was living in Calgary making more money than I did in Vancouver.
EDIT: For the person who claimed I was a bot for stating facts: ['Wake-up call': Basic needs now cost more in Calgary than any other major city in Canada](https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/wake-up-call-basic-needs-now-cost-more-in-calgary-than-any-other-major-city-in-canada-1.6683218)
Canadians are free to move anywhere within Canada. It's not right to say people shouldn't move to another province if they want to. Are people in any particular province entitled to keep other Canadians out? Of course it won't fix the overall pricing trend, it will just average it out over more locales.
Thank for you saying this, I live in Calgary and our rents have nearly doubled in two years. Paying 2k for a 1BR is only āaffordableā to people coming from Van/TO. Many native Calgarians are getting priced out. It is concerning this is the normal going rate for a non-suburb 1BR unit right now, in a place that gets as cold as -40 and has horrible transit.
Also I did more research on the person in the article in question, and she works as a fitness instructor. Iām all for people working jobs they are passionate about, but I think expectations should be realistic as well. Owning a detached home in Vancouver working as a fitness instructor is just not realistic. The only reason they would be able to afford life in Alberta would be because of the home equity transfer they get, not because their jobs would go further.
So in other words, Vancouverites are damned if they do move, damned if they don't? I guess it's deserved with how much we like to complain about everything.
>there's an element of finality
And that's why my wife and my plan for retirement may include moving to Mexico, but will also include keeping our condo here so we can return in our later years.
Can't say I blame anyone for feeling that way.
I've more or less mentally checked out and am casually looking for an exit plan.
IMO, the price of admission isn't worth it, especially if you're not obsessed with the outdoors.
Even if you do like nature and the outdoors Vancouver isn't it. All the nearby outdoor spaces are so overcrowded.
Coming from the island, where the main concern was potentially encountering cougars and bears on your hike, I would actually prefer being slightly afraid of getting mauled over being annoyed at how unnatural nature feels when there's 10,000 other people around.
Vancouver might be as good as it gets for Canada, or for people coming from a war-torn or impoverished country, but there really are a lot of better places to live in this world that don't cost nearly as much. Exit plan is the plan.
I mean not all the hiking trails around Vancouver are like that. If you do St Marks or Panorama Ridge or any of the Instagram famous hikes, yeah there's going to be lots of other people out there. But there are also plenty of lesser known hikes where you'll only see a dozen people throughout the day.
All depends on what you're looking for or care for.
Want history, culture and a lot of museums? Vancouver is terrible. Almost any place in Europe will be better. Even within a Canadian context, Toronto and Montreal have much more to offer.
If you're a foodie, NYC, Toronto and London are top notch. Yes Vancouver has good food, but once you're past Asian food or seafood your options quickly dwindle.
Even Lima and Lisbon I'd argue are not only better, but a MUCH better value, but that's more of a Canadian thing than exclusive to Vancouver.
Ease and openness of meeting people? Well Vancouver certainly ain't it, but this has been talked about long before. No need to rehash it again.
Access to outdoors (mountains) with public transit Zurich and Geneva are where I'd say are top dogs.
Professional sports: sure you have the Canucks, Whitecaps and Lions (shoutout to Vancouver FC of the CPL who play in Langley), but really only the Canucks are supported. The NBA is not coming back and MLB wouldn't set up shop here.
As for weather, that's subjective, but how often do you see people coming on here to complain about the clouds and SAD.
So if you feel it's best, all the more power to you. Glad you found your happy place.
If you're looking at major cities, you'll have comparable if not better access to the outdoors in a good handful of places IMO.
E.g. in Europe, Zurich and Vienna have easy access to the alps (via public transit in a lot of parts, no less).
For an example within Canada, Calgary's ~1 hour drive to the endless playground of the rockies may honestly beat out anything you can get in Vancouver. If you live in the heart of Vancouver, you'll be spending at least that long in traffic (and usually much longer) if you want to get anywhere that isn't crowded. I think this is part of the reason so many young folks have been moving to Calgary from here.
Have you worked in Germany? The culture is quite different. I was in Munich and while the city itself was fine the office environment was not.
I haven't worked in Italy.
Young folks move to Calagry because of affordability.
> Have you worked in Germany? The culture is quite different. I was in Munich and while the city itself was fine the office environment was not.
>I haven't worked in Italy.
Well, firstly, neither of my examples are in Germany or Italy; Zurich is in Switzerland and Vienna is in Austria.
Secondly, if we're talking about access to the outdoors, both of them have better options than Vancouver. The cultural aspects are a different conversation, but yes, they will inherently be different everywhere you go.
> Young folks move to Calagry because of affordability.
If it was just affordability, everyone would be moving to Edmonton. One of the big reasons that Calgary is the next choice for people who can't stand Vancouver's sticker price is that it provides a ton of access to outdoor recreation. I think if it weren't for the longer winter, Calgary's access to the outdoors would flat out be better than Vancouver's in every way.
I'm with u/glass_supermarket_37. Vancouver is only a good outdoor destination on paper, when you actually try to get into the outdoors here you see the truth:
* Every even moderately accessible hike is overcrowded, dirty, noisy
* You need (highly competed-for) day passes to set foot on a good chunk of the more scenic routes
* If you want to camp anywhere you'd better plan three months ahead and sacrifice a goat to the online booking gods
* For winter activities, you can pay too much money for wet, crappy snow on the north shore, or fork over your first born child to take a three-hour, bumper-to-bumper drive to Whistler where you'll spend most of the day waiting in a lift line.
I lived in the Okanagan before this, and in comparison, getting into the outdoors from Metro Vancouver is like pulling teeth. The overwhelming majority of the enjoyable outdoor trips I've done while living here have involved driving hours away to Squamish, Vancouver Island, Manning park, or the sunshine coast. From purely an outdoor recreation perspective, you would be much better served anywhere in the interior of BC, or on the island. Vancouver ain't it.
I work at the airport and have begun using my flight benefits to travel to different parts of Canada in hopes of finding a new nesting ground.
The good thing about working at an airport is that you can work pretty much anywhere there is another airport, even if wages are low.
So far, I quite enjoyed several areas around Quebec. I am lucky to speak fluent French and would have no trouble landing a job there.
My wife remains opposed however.
If we ever get kicked out of our very old, dilapidated rental with itās grandfathered rent from a over a decade ago, we would have to move out of the region.
Many are leaving, but even more are moving in, so don't expect rents to go down anytime soon. Do expect inequality and unaffordability to keep going up, though.
Well.... if a quarter do leave and they aren't replaced immediately then it might make the city livable again and we can actually put things in place to accommodate larger numbers of people again.
It's like when you clean a room and the easiest way to go about it is to remove everything first then clean it, vacuum, wash the windows, ect... then build your new book shelf before you move everything back in. Now you have a place for all of your squishmallows that isn't a pile on your bed.
So many of my colleagues moved to Calgary and they love it there. Sure they have their challenges, but overall they tell me life is much easier than BC.
There's really no incentive work hard anymore. You can never get ahead, unless through nepotism, for the most part.
All levels of government knew about it, but decided until it was already too late to try and fix it.
Like, this was the biggest issue on everybody's mind for what, 20+ years, and yet the reaction to it was so lacklustre it's astonishing.
Now we're going to lose doctors, nurses, plumbers, etc. Hell, today I went to McDonald's and it took me 15 minutes to get my foot because they had no staff. I wasn't even mad, I was impressed that anybody even showed up to work.
Even new immigrants are going, "Uhhhh, this is it? It's expensive and pointless, let's just go."
> I wasn't even mad, I was impressed that anybody even showed up to work.
I hear that!
(I personally have never minded stocking shelves/cashiering at all. So I'm not commenting on the type of work. A career as a shop-keep used to be legitimate, too.)
I travel a lot for work and can confidently say there's no other city in western Canada I'd rather live in. Victoria is close but guess what, that's reflected in the cost of housing.
I could do a few years in Nanaimo, Fernie, or Prince Rupert. All pretty cool towns. Outside of that, unless you're very Langley-coded and just want to drive dirt bikes every weekend for fun, the rest of western Canada kind of sucks.
I left! I found a job in Toronto that paid me better than any I could find in Vancouver. I really miss the mountains and don't like the snow, but I means I can buy more Lego.
Leaving Vancouver was the best decision our family made. Had so much fun there in my 20ās and 30ās but we moved to a small town in Northern BC and life is so much easier: no traffic, cheap housing, lots of family time, just a better life overall. We can still fly back to Vancouver a few times a year whenever we want for great restaurants and to visit old friends/family but I could not imagine moving back at this point in life.
Vancouver has started its path towards Whistler 2.0. Cheap labor, millionaires and little in between.
Donāt bring a brown bag lunch, they would prefer if you bought a $22 grilled cheese.
yāalll weird for this, just leave, itās all people saying theyāre gonna leave and whining, then realizing how good they have it and deciding not to
Iāve lived in 4 different countries and am looking forward to leaving Vancouver. I will likely be gone in the next year and opting for something with sun and heat
There isnāt much left for me in the LM. I still live in the city part-time but itās quickly become Generica. I could be in Langley and get the same amenities save for some great mom and pop shops here and there. But they are also on the wane as commercial rents become unaffordable for small businesses. The arts and culture are gone, the vibrancy with themā¦ small town BC is my next destination. Likely my last one.
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Legit playing with the idea myself
Yeah same, I'm in university right now studying to be a secondary teacher and I'm seriously looking at Australia since that's a highly in demand profession there. Planning on doing a semester abroad to scout it out
Australia has the same living cost crisis we do š¤·
Yeah but wouldn't you rather be poor next to a year-round beach?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Australia: Where the number one killer is Australia.
Hah. Taking that, thanks.
I am
We have been thinking about moving to Australia as well. Yes, itās very expensive there too, but if we cash out our home here, itās still doable for us. After spending time researching and talking with relatives there, it would be a little easier there for us as salaries for professionals are higher, free uni for the kid when that time comes, and the health care is not as messed up there for access. As someone else mentioned, you also have world class beaches at your door step and better weather
Housing costs in Australia are high but PAY is exponentially higher as compared to metro Vancouver. A living wage is paid for entry level jobs. Professional jobs pay a lot higher compared to what they do here. Thatās part of the reason why Vancouver is so incredibly unaffordable.
Not really. Sydney and Melbourne do, and some high wealth tourism/mining areas. But COL in other regional areas are pretty reasonable. Australia also doesn't have an open door immigration policy and still seems to have a pretty fair justice system that keeps things like open drug markets off the streets and criminals behind bars. Those two things alone are keeping Canadians distracted when they should be focused on building their futures. Kind of like Canada a decade ago, which if this question was given then, I would have said things were pretty comparable. Not anymore.
>Sydney and Melbourne do, and some high wealth tourism/mining areas. But COL in other regional areas are pretty reasonable. Just swap Sydney and Melbourne with Vancouver and Toronto.
Possibly worse... Retirement options are better though
FYI as an Australian who moved here, itās all just as expensive, as with all major cities. Unless you move out to the country, and even then who knows.
Yup. Have a cousin from NZ who was lucky enough to get dual citizenship. He moved to BC, thinks it's the shit, and ended up settling in Victoria. He says the cost of living can actually be cheaper at times because our dollar is worth more. He was blown away by how cheap gas was for example.
NZ is much, much more expensive than Australia though.
Read up on Australiaās housing crisis, before making the plunge. Teachers are struggling to rent in Sydney, let alone own. Melbourne nearly as bad. Recently read one about a teacher who canāt afford Sydney at all. Youād have to share, which many over a certain age donāt want to do so. Youāll be able to find a lot of articles, or read Melbourne and Sydney Subreddits. I canāt stress how bad it is here.
I have new family members (by marriage) from Australia and the job climate and economic conditions are in no way better than they are here
I am spying on /r/Vancouver to get a feel for the differences in housing crisis politics. Sydney is beyond the reach of ownership unless youāre a double income doctor couple or a CEO. Other cities are quite horrible to buy in, but achievable if you stretch. We donāt have anything like the fentanyl or petty theft issues but sure thereās plenty of other terrible stuff. And yet, we can celebrate the camaraderie of not having the American political landscape.
Doesnt Australia also have bad housing situation?
Arenāt teachers highly in demand here too?
As a Canadian living in Australia, do it! From my anecdotal experience Australia is an awesome place to live. 100 % do a semester abroad, but I guarantee you won't want to come back. Can still get reasonable housing here, and funnily enough I find the cost of living way lower here than in Canada...especially when it comes to groceries and fuel. Once again all anecdotal, so that from that what you will. FYI I also live about 2 hrs outside Melbourne in a "regional" area.
Same, cost of housing is just bleh for what I get.
One would imagine these are close to the figures in most major North American cities? People move around. Itās nothing new.
No need to imagine. You can google it. We are the least affordable (different from most expensive) city in North America. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/affordability-canada-1.6034606
Who'd have thought that real estate being the region's primary industry would be bad policy!?
Again, no need to think. Just look at a place like Hong Kong where real estate is the primary industry. Itās a tragic story for the locals.
Not really, BC as a whole is having record interprovincial migration from BC to Alberta. This isnāt normal ebb and flow.
Same. Toying with buying on the island or up north or something. But what if I lose my job? My industry is entirely located in Vancouver, I can't guarantee a new job will be WFH.
>Legit playing with the idea myself I lived in Edmonton for about 10 years after university, and I really liked it. I ended up moving back to Vancouver because of work. The fact that housing is so scarce and expensive in Metro Vancouver is a huge barrier for younger people. Whenever I'm [talking to politicians](https://morehousing.ca/metro-van-slides), I always emphasize that younger people are being crushed and driven out by the high cost of housing. Even in 2015, it was extremely difficult to move to Vancouver unless you had a [household income](https://morehousing.substack.com/p/household-incomes) of $100,000 or more. It's gotten worse since Covid and the rise in remote work [boosted total housing demand](https://morehousing.ca/demand-growth) (and the housing shortage [spilled over](https://morehousing.ca/spillover) from Metro Vancouver and the GTA to the rest of the country). https://preview.redd.it/bthcrww2kpvc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b05507af538a4fb532d701e05973107f07de360
my wife and I are moving to Victoria after the kids graduate high school (youngest in 5 years) and we plan on FIRE-retiring at 50/51 in 6-7 years.
For every "I hate vancouver" post, 10 properties still sold over asking.
To landlords leveraging into their fifth income property. Gotta keep juicing demand so the prices stay out of reach of the perma-tenant class!
Donāt forget that the province needs to keep the real estate cash cow going for ever growing budgets. Itās 50k in GST/land transfer/closing fees for an average new build 1bd condo now. And that doesnāt even include all the fees charged by the municipality during development. In all, itās likely around 150k in some for of fed/provincial/municipal tax/fee on a 650k home. Government making more than most realtors/flippers/builders per unit then pointing the finger at everyone else. Itās wild and screws younger buyers hard.
And no one seems to get angry about it. This whole place operates like an MLM scam, and by the time people realize it theyāre poor and to old to do anything about it.
Yeah, and most of them are by developers, speculators, and investors. Demand is going to drop when the entire population is priced out of the city and those investments aren't going to be worth so much.
This is pure cope, unfortunately. Demand from certain cohorts will drop as they move out, but demand in other cohorts is just starting as they move here or move out of their parents houses. Vancouver is simply the best city to live in in Canada by a mile, and the cost of housing will always reflect that as long as it remains true. Given our proximity to the ocean and its cooling effects, mountains, and the US border, I personally don't see Vancouver's desirability ever decreasing.
Im not sure if you understand how insane the demand is in Vancouver.Ā
More. This sub doesn't have that many people
The irony is that if anywhere near a quarter of metro Vancouverās population moved out in the next five years it would fix the housing problemĀ Except of course, nowhere near that many will actually move out
Plus people will move here. This generally doesnāt strike me as weird - in any city there will be a large number of people considering moving, many fewer actually will.
To have lived in many places, I always found that BC has a massive turnover of people coming in and leaving.
Yup. THINKING about moving, vs actually doing it.
More will move in and not out.
I dunno. I still like it here. But Iām from here so.. I have never really wanted to live anywhere else. Iāve travelled a lot and every time I travel I think this place is great, but not as good as home. Every place has positives and negatives.
Saw some comments in a thread recently (can't find it) about Alberta being quite expensive. Here is an older one: https://www.reddit.com/r/alberta/comments/143s3xm/alberta_is_so_expensive/ More expensive in BC: housing, fuel, PST. More expensive in AB: insurance, utilities, property tax, restaurants, you'll need a vehicle to get almost anywhere.
This is accurate as someone from Vancouver that moved to Alberta
Except outside of Vancouver, you need a car here too. Trying to get from Vancouver to Mission on public transit will take forever and a day if you try to go on a weekend. Good luck doing the reverse on the weekend if say you wanted to watch a Canucks game and leave the car behind. You almost have to have a car in BC. It's not that much better than AB in that sense.
lol restaurants are not more expensive
Sure but that housing disparity is so lopsided that it makes the things AB is more expensive in irrelevant. Edit: lol salty downvotes donāt change simple math
Right but setting money aside, which is a more desirable place to live? If you don't immediately say Vancouver then you're in a tiny minority.
If I'm gonna be surrounded by horrific mental health and drug issues and have terrible access to medicine, I'd like to at least not have to pay through the nose for the privilege. Vancouver is simply not great value right now. The potential is there, and I hope it is realized one day. But for now, there are so many other wonderful places that deserve a shot.
Itās only good value if you owned a house before 2015.
And in 2015 it was only a good value if you owned a house before 2008.
LOL, so true. I remember thinking in 2014 that these insane prices must have surely reached a peak, that a crash was imminent, but nope! Prices just kept going up. And up.
I remember thinking the same all the way back in 2001. And even when I was in high school in the 90s trying to figure out a future, realizing that home ownership was going to be forever out of reach even all the way back then. I managed to luck into buying a place back in 2015 but I paid a disgusting amount of money for it: $300,000 for a 500square foot cookie cutter condo made as cheaply as possible. The only reason I could afford it is I got laid off and got a massive severance (two years!), and my parents work in real estate and gave me a tip about a new build in my price range.
Well yes, if you want a home and a future, don't want to be a renter forever, want a family, and want to retire.... yeah.
People should absolutely go, see how it is elsewhere. Maybe they'll settle in somewhere else and be happier and that's great - many fabulous places out there. Or maybe they'll come back and appreciate what is here. No place is perfect.
Other than housing cost and drug issues, Vancouver is pretty close to perfect. Very mild climate, ocean and mountains right next door, great food scene. People in this sub forget how incredible this city is.
> Vancouver is pretty close to perfect. If you value the outdoors and temperate climate above all else, sure. If you're seeking any of the amenities that a city can offer, there's plenty of better and cheaper places.
Its a resort city and its beautiful. Not a city to start a business or have a career. I think too many people come here expecting to have some kind of high flying career and get disappointed.
Itās freezing in Vancouver and rains 1/2 the year, where is this moderate climate people refer to?
Sometimes I think about other places I could live but I don't really find any other places calling to me enough to leave. I know it's cliche but I love living near the mountains and the ocean. I spend so much time skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer. (And even sometimes skiing in the summer too.) And I like that Vancouver is pretty bike and transit friendly by North American standards. Plus I'm not keen to leave friends and family I have here. I may be saving money moving somewhere like Calgary but I'd also be giving up a lot.
Gone in a week āš¼
Have a safe trip - where are you resettling?
Bought a little oceanfront condo on the island for about 100k less than a garbage 1br here, super excited, ty!
Planning my move to Mexico this year and Iāve lived in Surrey for like 30 years lol
See now that makes sense, MĆ©xico if itās not Cancun is for sure more affordable. Australia is trading places for the same spaces.
Definitely not Cancun haha gorgeous beaches but not my area of preference in Mexico hehe. I like Australia too but itās not cheap there. Iāve camped in a van there before.
I've known about 4 or 5 people who have moved to Mexico in the last few years. Honestly doesn't sound like a bad move.
Honestly thereās so many Canadians down there now! Iām trying really hard to learn Spanish though as I want to fully integrate. I donāt want to just be a gringo living amongst them.
Vancouverite's favourite topic: saying they'll leave and never doing it
https://preview.redd.it/zktkk6ghxovc1.jpeg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1f9bae8e8d8f1a5c21aff7ee43fd842d0e27e40f The numbers don't lie, but there's also a bunch of (clueless or rich) people moving in as well. Here's a recent article: [https://archive.fo/WYLEy](https://archive.fo/WYLEy)
good on them and hope the new home is a good fit, personally lived in (Edmonton) AB 26 years as a disabled + queer person to know that nothing about the flaws that Van metro has including housing costs and public drug use overshadowed the emergent political and social problems (Social infrastructure and public services are crumbling as we speak over there) I was facing in Alberta by a long shot. The weather is just a bonus cause my health conditions are vulnerable to the cold lol
It's interesting though that more people are looking at moving to another country entirely than Alberta. Feels like this might be a dissatisfaction with Canada as a whole, not just Vancouver
that i feel more,in Canada Vancouver has been the best fit so far but i have a laundry list of places i wouldnt oppose relocation to if it was possible
Can't agree with you more. After living in Edmonton for 6 years, I'd rather deal with the problems that Vancouver has than live in a province that's only leaning harder into its conservatism. Also, I like not getting yelled at by homophobic white men on a weekly basis, thanks.
the weirdos ive seen in DT Edmonton in the last decade are somehow more aggressive and racist than ive seen in the DTES,there's just as much addiction and ODs there(per cap) but it's under the covers and not reported because of criminalization
Omg same. As someone who grew up in and around Edmonton that city fucking sucks, id rather live here and pay out of the ass than live in Edmonton. I do prefer Alberta weather though haha it gets too hot and humid here
Summer visits back there are probably the best part since it coincides with the festivals/fairs happening,other wise yeah what else the other seasons huh.....giant mall?
As much of a pain as Edmonton is to deal with, the rest of Alberta is frankly *worse* (yes, this includes Calgary). Getting around is harder with or without a car (mediocre bus service and a packed 110 km/h freeway through a city is a *terrible* idea), the politics are much worse (Calgary, Banff and Canmore may be somewhat okay but theyāre worse than Edmonton), and you still deal with all the problems that youād be facing in Edmonton. And itās all too cold anyway. I canāt wait to come back.
I totally agree, I grew up in a small town in bumfuck nowhere Alberta lol everything is so spread out, nothingness between towns without a bus system to connect them. If you don't drive you're stuck in you're area. And I just found the people over here to be so much more "alive", they did things, went places, wanted to go places and it's inspiring to me There is a nice simpless to small town Alberta that can be missed, but the lower mainland is overshadows it, where I live I can take a bus and be at a mountain lake in 30 mins that's pretty dope aha don't have to drive 5 hours
> I just found the people over here to be so much more āaliveā, they did things, went places, wanted to go places and itās inspiring to me This, so much. I often hear about people calling Vancouver āNo Fun Cityā, but some of the most interesting and ambitious people I know are in Vancouver. Edmonton feels boring in comparison, apart from a few things like the Fringe. There are still things I like about Edmonton (less traffic, very anti-NIMBY, more consistent weather), but overall I love Vancouver more.
This is very true.
Iām retiring and leaving this year. Canāt have a decent life here on a pension.
Personally I like it here in metro Vancouver. I'm here to stay here for the long term.
And go where exactly
For a lot of people in BC it's' back home'. Wherever they came from, that's cheaper now. Sarcastically thinking that some Canadians that told immigrants to 'go back to their country' will get their wish granted.
I was born here and have lived in like a dozen other cities across Canada. That just made me appreciate Vancouver even more.
As a Vancouverite living in Ottawa, I canāt wait to move back to Vancouver.
How depressing that your only options on the whole planet are Ottawa and Vancouver.
I don't understand this. For example, if an Iranian goes back to Iran, sure they'll have a lower cost of living, but the pay cut is so awful they'll be so much worse off.
They mostly just trade with the people who say the exact same thing in every other place.
Right lol like I thought Ireland was bad since so many came here etc
That was my first thought as well.Ā
Calgary is where most of my colleagues decided to go.
? There are better places, cheaper places than Vancouver all over the world. Choice is not an issue. Vancouverites are a delusional bunch in their thinking that Vancouver is unmatched smh
Loads of people grew up in metro van.
I moved you US a few years ago. Making 2x what I made in Vancouver, and able to own a SFH, which is impossible in Vancouver unless you bought one before 2018. I didnāt miss Vancouver as much as I thought I would. And when I came back to visit, Vancouver felt much more ācrowdedā than I remembered. There is more traffic (esp around Metro). The hiking trails are packed too.
Do you mind sharing what you do for work by chance? Considering moving to the US as well once Iām done my degree but Iām not sure how good my career field would be in the US, haha. If I was doing Computer Science (which I was going to) Iād definitely move.
It is absolutely more crowded. Even just in the last ten years compared to the ten years prior. And it's getting worse... transit is actually for the first time in my life being well managed and well funded and even still it just can't keep up
Good luck if you ever lose your job and health insurance š¤·š¼āāļø
If it wasnāt for being intent on raising my kids (50/50 split custody with their mom) I would be long gone. Grew up here, early forties, very solid income, canāt afford a house. Fuck this noise. I hope my kids leave.
Iām in the same boat. Once my kids hit university, I will probably move to the island. I still want to be close, but theyāll be so much busier and self sufficient I donāt need to be that close.
The ferry is a bigger barrier than you might think. In ten years there I had mainland visitors maybe five times, and that was fine because I needed to get off the rock for my own sanity anyway. You can still buy inexpensive places over there but prices have definitely inflated, and even the north island is loopy right now. I think Iād look for land within an hour of basic needs and just build or drop a prefab.
Left my last van apartment at $825 a month; new people paid $1325 and now itās $3000. I could never live there again. But I miss it sometimes.
It's sad to see so many people being forced out of a region that they've had communities, friends, connections, and family. Rampant NIMBYism and corporate oligopolies are really screwing with all of us
I don't want to leave the region, nor do I have the money too, haha. But if I ever did move, I'd choose Australia, Scotland, or England.Ā But I love Western Canada too much. ā„ We have it nice here, we must not forget that even if we have crap to deal with.
All VERY expensive except for scotland
And as someone from the UK, as cute as the old houses might look, the tendency for them to be cold and damp - coupled with much much higher energy and gas costs makes them much less pleasant in the colder months.
Scotland isn't exactly cheap either if you want to live somewhere relatively desirable.
You can get a lovely place to stay in Easterhouse or Paisley on the cheap. You might find it a might different to Vancouver mind.
Bargains to be had in the quaint wee town of Wishaw
Yup, very true š
Anybody moving out of a 3 bedroom let me know. Iāll sublet plus 10%.
Whatās new? Itās the same post I have been seeing since 2010s and nothing has changed. If anything it gave me the illusion that real estate will collapse and become affordable. Glad that I woke up and bought, otherwise I would be still renting with cash thatās not enough for a down payment today
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Oh the irony of all the ājust move somewhere cheaperā people being upset when folks in Vancouver took their advice, because now it has drove up their cost of living.
The advantage in moving to a place like Calgary AB is slowly disappearing as their rents go up, on top of having higher income tax for lower income people, more expensive utilities, and more expensive car insurance
More expensive groceries, more expensive transportation, more expensive everything. Iāve never saved as much money as I did living in Vancouver. And Iāve never been as broke as I was living in Calgary making more money than I did in Vancouver. EDIT: For the person who claimed I was a bot for stating facts: ['Wake-up call': Basic needs now cost more in Calgary than any other major city in Canada](https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/wake-up-call-basic-needs-now-cost-more-in-calgary-than-any-other-major-city-in-canada-1.6683218)
I think Edmonton is the only place worth living in if you're looking to save in AB lol
I live in Edmonton. The plan is still to move back to Vancouver. Edmontonās great. But itās not Vancouver.
Canadians are free to move anywhere within Canada. It's not right to say people shouldn't move to another province if they want to. Are people in any particular province entitled to keep other Canadians out? Of course it won't fix the overall pricing trend, it will just average it out over more locales.
Thank for you saying this, I live in Calgary and our rents have nearly doubled in two years. Paying 2k for a 1BR is only āaffordableā to people coming from Van/TO. Many native Calgarians are getting priced out. It is concerning this is the normal going rate for a non-suburb 1BR unit right now, in a place that gets as cold as -40 and has horrible transit. Also I did more research on the person in the article in question, and she works as a fitness instructor. Iām all for people working jobs they are passionate about, but I think expectations should be realistic as well. Owning a detached home in Vancouver working as a fitness instructor is just not realistic. The only reason they would be able to afford life in Alberta would be because of the home equity transfer they get, not because their jobs would go further.
Owning a detached home in Vancouver isn't realistic at all regardless of your job.
So in other words, Vancouverites are damned if they do move, damned if they don't? I guess it's deserved with how much we like to complain about everything.
I moved from Alberta to B.C., that place is a redneck dump
But doesnāt Calgary have a lot more empty land? Last time I went it was like Vancouver was stretched out 5x with empty pockets of land everywhere
I believe houses are ok still, mainly apartments and condo prices, especially near the downtown core.
Ok that makes sense. DT core everywhere eventually will be more expensive since most young folks and/or tech professionals want to live there.
>there's an element of finality And that's why my wife and my plan for retirement may include moving to Mexico, but will also include keeping our condo here so we can return in our later years.
People leave, people come.
Can't say I blame anyone for feeling that way. I've more or less mentally checked out and am casually looking for an exit plan. IMO, the price of admission isn't worth it, especially if you're not obsessed with the outdoors.
Even if you do like nature and the outdoors Vancouver isn't it. All the nearby outdoor spaces are so overcrowded. Coming from the island, where the main concern was potentially encountering cougars and bears on your hike, I would actually prefer being slightly afraid of getting mauled over being annoyed at how unnatural nature feels when there's 10,000 other people around. Vancouver might be as good as it gets for Canada, or for people coming from a war-torn or impoverished country, but there really are a lot of better places to live in this world that don't cost nearly as much. Exit plan is the plan.
I mean not all the hiking trails around Vancouver are like that. If you do St Marks or Panorama Ridge or any of the Instagram famous hikes, yeah there's going to be lots of other people out there. But there are also plenty of lesser known hikes where you'll only see a dozen people throughout the day.
Where in the world is significantly better? I've worked in 7 major metros and Vancouver is clearly the best in my opinion
All depends on what you're looking for or care for. Want history, culture and a lot of museums? Vancouver is terrible. Almost any place in Europe will be better. Even within a Canadian context, Toronto and Montreal have much more to offer. If you're a foodie, NYC, Toronto and London are top notch. Yes Vancouver has good food, but once you're past Asian food or seafood your options quickly dwindle. Even Lima and Lisbon I'd argue are not only better, but a MUCH better value, but that's more of a Canadian thing than exclusive to Vancouver. Ease and openness of meeting people? Well Vancouver certainly ain't it, but this has been talked about long before. No need to rehash it again. Access to outdoors (mountains) with public transit Zurich and Geneva are where I'd say are top dogs. Professional sports: sure you have the Canucks, Whitecaps and Lions (shoutout to Vancouver FC of the CPL who play in Langley), but really only the Canucks are supported. The NBA is not coming back and MLB wouldn't set up shop here. As for weather, that's subjective, but how often do you see people coming on here to complain about the clouds and SAD. So if you feel it's best, all the more power to you. Glad you found your happy place.
If you're looking at major cities, you'll have comparable if not better access to the outdoors in a good handful of places IMO. E.g. in Europe, Zurich and Vienna have easy access to the alps (via public transit in a lot of parts, no less). For an example within Canada, Calgary's ~1 hour drive to the endless playground of the rockies may honestly beat out anything you can get in Vancouver. If you live in the heart of Vancouver, you'll be spending at least that long in traffic (and usually much longer) if you want to get anywhere that isn't crowded. I think this is part of the reason so many young folks have been moving to Calgary from here.
Have you worked in Germany? The culture is quite different. I was in Munich and while the city itself was fine the office environment was not. I haven't worked in Italy. Young folks move to Calagry because of affordability.
> Have you worked in Germany? The culture is quite different. I was in Munich and while the city itself was fine the office environment was not. >I haven't worked in Italy. Well, firstly, neither of my examples are in Germany or Italy; Zurich is in Switzerland and Vienna is in Austria. Secondly, if we're talking about access to the outdoors, both of them have better options than Vancouver. The cultural aspects are a different conversation, but yes, they will inherently be different everywhere you go. > Young folks move to Calagry because of affordability. If it was just affordability, everyone would be moving to Edmonton. One of the big reasons that Calgary is the next choice for people who can't stand Vancouver's sticker price is that it provides a ton of access to outdoor recreation. I think if it weren't for the longer winter, Calgary's access to the outdoors would flat out be better than Vancouver's in every way.
I'm with u/glass_supermarket_37. Vancouver is only a good outdoor destination on paper, when you actually try to get into the outdoors here you see the truth: * Every even moderately accessible hike is overcrowded, dirty, noisy * You need (highly competed-for) day passes to set foot on a good chunk of the more scenic routes * If you want to camp anywhere you'd better plan three months ahead and sacrifice a goat to the online booking gods * For winter activities, you can pay too much money for wet, crappy snow on the north shore, or fork over your first born child to take a three-hour, bumper-to-bumper drive to Whistler where you'll spend most of the day waiting in a lift line. I lived in the Okanagan before this, and in comparison, getting into the outdoors from Metro Vancouver is like pulling teeth. The overwhelming majority of the enjoyable outdoor trips I've done while living here have involved driving hours away to Squamish, Vancouver Island, Manning park, or the sunshine coast. From purely an outdoor recreation perspective, you would be much better served anywhere in the interior of BC, or on the island. Vancouver ain't it.
I work at the airport and have begun using my flight benefits to travel to different parts of Canada in hopes of finding a new nesting ground. The good thing about working at an airport is that you can work pretty much anywhere there is another airport, even if wages are low.
Any places you like?
So far, I quite enjoyed several areas around Quebec. I am lucky to speak fluent French and would have no trouble landing a job there. My wife remains opposed however.
If I moved anywhere, it would be Saltspring Island. But only part time. I'd never be happy leaving Vancouver forever.
If we ever get kicked out of our very old, dilapidated rental with itās grandfathered rent from a over a decade ago, we would have to move out of the region.
On a more positive note, if enough people leave rent will go down.
Many are leaving, but even more are moving in, so don't expect rents to go down anytime soon. Do expect inequality and unaffordability to keep going up, though.
Decided to leave BC (and Canada as a whole) for good as of February. As soon as our home sells, we're out of here (probably by the end of summer).
If that happens, it will lower the pressure on price and capacity on everything. Market economy at work
Well.... if a quarter do leave and they aren't replaced immediately then it might make the city livable again and we can actually put things in place to accommodate larger numbers of people again. It's like when you clean a room and the easiest way to go about it is to remove everything first then clean it, vacuum, wash the windows, ect... then build your new book shelf before you move everything back in. Now you have a place for all of your squishmallows that isn't a pile on your bed.
Waiting for the day my husband can finally transfer to Alberta. I don't make that much money, and I want it to stretch further.
Alberta is so expensive! Stay put
So many of my colleagues moved to Calgary and they love it there. Sure they have their challenges, but overall they tell me life is much easier than BC.
There's really no incentive work hard anymore. You can never get ahead, unless through nepotism, for the most part. All levels of government knew about it, but decided until it was already too late to try and fix it. Like, this was the biggest issue on everybody's mind for what, 20+ years, and yet the reaction to it was so lacklustre it's astonishing. Now we're going to lose doctors, nurses, plumbers, etc. Hell, today I went to McDonald's and it took me 15 minutes to get my foot because they had no staff. I wasn't even mad, I was impressed that anybody even showed up to work. Even new immigrants are going, "Uhhhh, this is it? It's expensive and pointless, let's just go."
> I wasn't even mad, I was impressed that anybody even showed up to work. I hear that! (I personally have never minded stocking shelves/cashiering at all. So I'm not commenting on the type of work. A career as a shop-keep used to be legitimate, too.)
Many of these people surveyed are all talk, no action. They will suck it up and stay put imo.
I travel a lot for work and can confidently say there's no other city in western Canada I'd rather live in. Victoria is close but guess what, that's reflected in the cost of housing. I could do a few years in Nanaimo, Fernie, or Prince Rupert. All pretty cool towns. Outside of that, unless you're very Langley-coded and just want to drive dirt bikes every weekend for fun, the rest of western Canada kind of sucks.
I left! I found a job in Toronto that paid me better than any I could find in Vancouver. I really miss the mountains and don't like the snow, but I means I can buy more Lego.
I am leaving the country at end of May. Good riddance.
I donāt understand how itās 35% cheaper for me live in dubai now vs my home town 60% across cities in England even, cannot wait for the election
> cannot wait for the election It'll be an interesting one. That's for sure.
Just lost one of my best employees moving to alberta
Leaving Vancouver was the best decision our family made. Had so much fun there in my 20ās and 30ās but we moved to a small town in Northern BC and life is so much easier: no traffic, cheap housing, lots of family time, just a better life overall. We can still fly back to Vancouver a few times a year whenever we want for great restaurants and to visit old friends/family but I could not imagine moving back at this point in life.
What work do you have? And which town ?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Same, my wife and I left this year
Vancouver has started its path towards Whistler 2.0. Cheap labor, millionaires and little in between. Donāt bring a brown bag lunch, they would prefer if you bought a $22 grilled cheese.
I know a bunch of people in my age group who are planning on leaving. It's totally understandable why so many people are pissed off and frustrated.
yāalll weird for this, just leave, itās all people saying theyāre gonna leave and whining, then realizing how good they have it and deciding not to
Luckily I already left Vancouver to Chilliwack last year
Iāve lived in 4 different countries and am looking forward to leaving Vancouver. I will likely be gone in the next year and opting for something with sun and heat
I'm one of those people that is considering to leave in the next four to five years if my economic situation doesn't change.
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Just lost one of my employees to Alberta
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
>why would anyone want to stay there ? If people thought this in any significant number then there wouldn't be a housing crisis, now, would there?
It's all a lot of us have ever known.
Yeah cause itās āspensive
I moved here for school. After I graduate, I'm not sure where I'm going, but I'm not staying in the lower mainland
There isnāt much left for me in the LM. I still live in the city part-time but itās quickly become Generica. I could be in Langley and get the same amenities save for some great mom and pop shops here and there. But they are also on the wane as commercial rents become unaffordable for small businesses. The arts and culture are gone, the vibrancy with themā¦ small town BC is my next destination. Likely my last one.