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Calls for action mount over Vancouver's surging housing prices

Xinhua, June 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

With housing prices in Vancouver reaching a new high, the government leaders of British Columbia (B.C.) in west Canada are urged to take action to control them.

The average price for a detached house in Vancouver surged to a record 2.2 million CAD (1.8 million U.S. dollars) in May, rising 19 percent compared to the same month of last year, according to new statistics from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

Local experts predicted that the average price for all types of housing could rise beyond 2.1 million CAD (1.7 million U.S. dollars) by 2030, with single-family homes surpassing an average price of 4.4 million CAD (3.6 million U.S. dollars) across the city, forcing young people to press the government for affordable homes for them.

Paul Kershaw, Generation Squeeze founder and executive director, told Xinhua Thursday that the surging housing prices are pushing people further away and some are leaving the city altogether.

Vancouver City Councilor Raymond Louie showed concern over the increasing house prices.

"The cost of housing in our city is now severely out of reach for many people, and as a result of that, we thought it was important to take action," he told Xinhua Thursday.

Louie said the province must give the city the tools it needs to curb housing speculation, which was a problem that needed to be addressed.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson penned a letter in May calling on B.C. Premier Christy Clark to introduce a speculation tax on people who are flipping houses to make profits -- a practice that has absorbed much blame for the price hikes.

But Premier Clark has discarded the idea, saying any new taxes to prevent house-flipping would erode the equity and assets of existing homeowners in the city.

REBGV, an organization that advocates on behalf of realtors, agrees with the premier. REBGV's President Darcy McLeod said the problem was much more complex than something that could be solved by a tax.

"The other issue that's been raised is what's this proposed structure of such a tax? We have no idea how it might be structured and what the long-term implications might be for everyone," said the president. Endi