Vancouver's Economy and Housing Market has a Bright Future

Vancouver’s Economy and Housing Market Outlook

A recent report by The Bank of Montreal highlights the underlying strength of Vancouver’s economy and housing market. This article presents the highlights of that report.

Highlights

  • BC’s economy is expected to grow slightly slower compared to 2014, but should still lead the nation
  • Any benefits from LNG are still years out
  • Production should begin on the $11 billion shipbuilding contract
  • Vancouver is expected to add 50,000 net new jobs by 2017
  • Housing starts are forecast to pick reach 29,000 in 2015 in BC

Vancouver’s Economy and Housing Market

Since the recession, economic strength in the province of BC has been entirely concentrated in the Vancouver CMA. In fact, since 2009, the rest of BC has lost jobs on net.

This has been evident in the housing market as well, with sales soft across most of the province. That is no longer the case, however, with inventory levels across most markets in BC falling.

Looking ahead, prospects are bright for Vancouver’s economy and housing market:

  • Unemployment rates are trending down
  • Manufacturing is picking up
  • Population growth is accelerating
  • The inventory of completed but unsold units has been trending down for two years and vacancy rates are particularly low. However, the high number of apartments currently under construction (around 20,000), could lead to rising inventories as those projects complete.

All-in-all, Vancouver’s economy, and the housing market is on solid ground.