Elections in the United States are only few months away, but with the current state of things, it looks like Americans are considering of moving to Canada should Donald Trump or Hilary Clinton win the White House.
According to MarketWatch, searches for "Move to Canada" jumped to its highest level ever after Trump and Clinton each won seven state primaries on Super Tuesday. Surely, most people are not that serious about moving out of the U.S. because of these aspiring presidents. But for those who are, the article listed six things to consider before making that big decision. One of which is housing costs.
While there are many benefits of living in Canada such as access to universal health care, MarketWatch said that housing cost in Canada is really high. Respondents of an Angus Reid Institute survey last February said that owning a home in urban areas are "high" or "unreasonably high."
In Vancouver, as previously tackled here on Realty Today, RBC said it has become "dangerously unaffordable" to own a home. Houses prices in the region soared to an all-time high of 11 percent in 2015. And with shortage of housing supply, amid the increase in home selling activities, unaffordability of houses is going to be an ongoing issue.
To address the problem on housing supply, some professionals proposed to increase property taxes for homes that are sitting empty. The suggestion aims to encourage homeowners to rent out their properties to be exempted from the surtax, which will consequently increase the housing stock.
Those who still want to move to Canada can opt to live in B.C.'s countryside instead, like what millionaire homeowners from the city are doing. They are selling their million-dollar properties in the urban cities in exchange for cheaper but better homes in hobby farms and acreages in the countryside.