Legendary Developments: Hollywood and Vancouver Housing Markets

For two cities separated by thousands of miles and an international boundary, not to mention the obvious differences in climate, Hollywood and Vancouver share a number of remarkable similarities. Thanks to its proximity to the Pacific Ocean, its natural beauty, and the compelling incentives created by tax credits, Vancouver, like Hollywood, is home to a thriving movie industry that attracts some of the biggest names in film.

According to Legendary Developments, it seems that many of those same qualities are now shaping the real estate market in Vancouver in ways that ought to seem remarkably familiar to keen observers of the real estate market in Hollywood. With the booming Vancouver real estate market still in such high demand, an increasing number of local residents have expressed concern that new housing might become so out of reach that relocation will be the only option for those in need of a more affordable home.

As Legendary Developments points out, a thriving real estate market in Hollywood has raised similar concerns among longtime residents. Demand for properties in the Greater Los Angeles Area has only continued to rise, and an influx of foreign investment has helped bolster the market even further. Hollywood is hardly the only US city to experience a sharp increase in interest from foreign real estate investors, as the real estate markets in both Miami and New York City have been affected by a similarly sudden influx of international investment.

While solutions to issues such as these are hardly easy to come by, it seems that Vancouver is taking a proactive approach at least partly based on the experiences of US cities like Hollywood, Miami, and New York. In Vancouver, the city is now considering several policies designed to ensure that new housing projects are made available on a “locals-first” basis.

Legendary Developments explained that one of the city’s proposed policies intends to ensure that residents of British Columbia, as well as those working in the Vancouver area, will be first in line when new housing is made available to the public. Even though the policy -- which will provide a 30-day period in which only local residents are eligible to buy newly developed real estate -- has not been approved or formally introduced by the city, a number of developers in the region are already adhering to the proposed policy guidelines due to the apparent understanding that supporting policies that favor local residents tends to be good for business.

Another solution that Legendary Developments believes could work in the real estate industry for the city of Vancouver is Increased Density. This would allow more people and housing to become available in the Vancouver area. The area has more than enough space to accommodate more housing and people however, people just have to rethink their perceptions of urban living.

Of course, every real estate market is shaped by a wide range of disparate factors, and, despite the many similarities between the two markets, the solutions proposed in Vancouver may not necessarily be appropriate for Hollywood. When developing these solutions, however, it just seems wise for cities such as Vancouver to craft policies based on as much information as possible, including information taken from cities dealing with similar issues pertaining to the local real estate market.