Our President, Daryl Simpson, recently returned to the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast hosted by Adam Scalena and Matt Scalena to share a multitude of insights about the current state of the market.
On Townline: “We’re not just a developer; we’re a housing provider.” We’ve evolved to deliver across the entire housing spectrum – from non-market partnerships to rental and for-sale homes. “When we hear about greedy developers, that bothers me. I’m very proud that we employ hundreds of people at family supporting wages and that our industry contributes close to 20% of our provincial GDP.”
On Canada’s challenges: Building on research Daryl initially shared at Urban Development Institute’s annual housing forecast luncheon, two critical trends are converging: Canada will experience its first population decline in Confederation history this year, while the Canada Pension Plan now invests just 12% domestically (down from 50% a decade ago). He posits that if our own CPP investors cannot find a decent return domestically, how could we possibly expect others to do so? “We’ve told foreigners, don’t invest your money in our country. We’ve uninvited those guests to this market, and I think over the long term, we’re going to regret that.” The result? Declining demand meets reduced investment capital – a perfect storm that undermines long-term economic growth.
On government’s role: “All three levels of government contribute ~35% of the cost of delivering a new home. Government needs to be out of the housing business.” The impact goes beyond developers: “They’re taking it from our tenants and home buyers.” The policy contradiction is clear: “We tax alcohol and tobacco to dissuade consumption. And housing, we’re trying to encourage it and do the same thing. It makes no sense, right?” The solution: “Get out of the way.”
On broader urban challenges: “We need to get serious about public safety, addiction, homelessness, mental health, incarceration and our legal system.” The stakes couldn’t be higher: “roughly 200 people a month are dying from this, and it’s having a detrimental effect on those people’s lives and their family’s lives. And It’s having a knock-on detrimental effect to a number of other people, business owners, employees, students, who are trying to make their way in life.” The challenge is that “a lot of problems get put at the feet of housing, it’s almost become interchangeable, this idea of addiction and unhoused.” While housing is part of the solution, “Is our addiction and criminal justice problem here a housing problem? I don’t think it can be.” We need the same mobilization we saw with COVID: “We swarmed it. What are we doing with this? We need to make people feel comfortable living in urban environments again.”
Listen to the full discussion here.
