[URBAN NOTE] "Chinese envoy says lack of oversight behind Vancouver’s house-price crisis"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's Iain Marlow reports on the entirely accurate statement of the Chinese consul-general in Vancouver blaming high housing prices on a lack of effective regulation. Canadian cities need to do much better on housing.

The Chinese government’s top envoy in Vancouver says the city’s skyrocketing house prices and affordability crisis are due to a lack of regulation in the booming real estate market.

In a wide-ranging interview over tea at the Chinese consulate in Vancouver, Consul-General Liu Fei said local residents are blaming wealthy Chinese buyers for the city’s increasingly costly real estate but that the real blame lies with officials who monitor buyers, sellers and real estate developers.

“People are blaming the buyer. It’s the wrong direction,” said Ms. Liu, who has served in Vancouver since 2011. “I mean, the regulation here, nobody’s playing the role.”

Ms. Liu said this situation would not be allowed to occur in China, and pointed out that China’s government frequently wades into the country’s real estate market, and has strict policies with regard to affordable housing. She suggested a number of possible measures Vancouver could take to make housing more affordable, including the introduction of quotas to increase the number of affordable housing units within new buildings, greater oversight of real estate developers from the city and a tax or fee for overseas investors who want to buy luxury properties in the West Coast city.

“If there are not enough [affordable] houses, you can set up rules – saying, ‘Okay, we have to save 30 or 40 per cent of [the units] for those families who need housing,’” she said. “And we can put on luxury houses … a higher price for the overseas investors. We can do it this way. So everybody could enjoy [Vancouver].”