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Trends in the Housing Market - Housing Is Becoming a HUMAN RIGHTS Crisis! Toronto Your Next!

1,699 views · Published 17 October 2016 · 32:42 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2016 · News & Politics

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Welcome to another special edition of Trends in the Housing Market, broadcasting from downtown Vancouver on October 17, 2016.

This episode goes well beyond Vancouver. I'm looking at housing stories from Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia and asking whether we're seeing separate local housing problems—or pieces of a much larger global affordability crisis.

We begin in Vancouver, where international housing experts are being brought together as the city struggles with affordability, extremely low rental vacancy and soaring real-estate prices. One of my biggest concerns is what I call the Canadian brain drain: doctors, engineers, geologists and other skilled professionals reaching a point where establishing themselves in Vancouver simply doesn't make financial sense.

Then we're off to Ireland, where housing supply is becoming a major issue, before looking at Seattle's comparison with Vancouver and London's affordability crisis. One statistic from the London article really jumps out at me: the claim that an average single person could need 46 years to save for a home deposit. The article also challenges the idea that foreign investment alone explains London's housing problems.

Southern California is another stop, with rents continuing upward despite significant apartment construction. Australia brings another angle: household debt, record-low interest rates and concerns about risks originating in China's banking system.

Then comes one of the most significant stories in the episode: Vancouver's housing situation being discussed in the context of housing as a human right. The article argues that treating housing increasingly as an investment commodity can contribute to displacement and homelessness.

And finally—the “dooker.”

After British Columbia introduced its foreign-buyer tax, reports were already asking whether some foreign investment was shifting from Vancouver toward Toronto.

#ireland  #housingbubble  #foreignbuyers  #housingaffordability  #canadianhousing  #realestate  #braindrain  #middleclass  #mikemartins  #MikeMartinsChannel

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