The rapidly increasing cost of housing in Metro Vancouver could have dire consequences for B.C.’s labour market, according to a recent study published by Vancity Credit Union.
Masses of millennials could be making a great exodus out of Vancouver in the near future if housing costs and wages stay on their projected trajectories, causing B.C. to face a potential labour crisis. This ‘brain drain’ is researched in Vancity’s May 2015 study
Help Wanted: Salaries, Affordability and the Exodus of Labour from Metro Vancouver, which warns individiuals, businesses and governments that high quality labour is threatened by the increase in the cost of living and unaffordable housing prices.
“Contrary to popular belief,” says Vancity, “Millennials are just as likely to aspire to home ownership as previous generations.” In fact, 93 per cent of those born between 1980 and 2000 plan on owning a home in the future. But they may need to take their plans elsewhere if salaries continue to fall behind the cost of living.
Between 2001 and 2014, the cost of housing in Metro Vancouver increased by 63 per cent – and 211 per cent in the City of Vancouver – while salaries only rose 36.2 per cent. Even at today’s prices, much lower than the
projected average cost of a detached home in 2030 ($2.1 million), the salary needed to maintain a typical mortgage in Vancouver for a $713,125 house is $78,088. Finding an occupation that pays enough will not get any easier.