Why Langley Has Less “Empty Homes” Than Vancouver

When politicians speak about the housing crisis in Vancouver, their most sure-fire crowd-pleaser is to bemoan the plague of empty homes owned by absent foreign investors who use Vancouver real estate as a ‘safety-deposit box’ for their money. No one wants to live in a neighborhood of falsely inflated home values and empty restaurants and coffee shops.

But there are swaths of Vancouver that have indeed become shells of their former selves, with the charming characters of neighborhoods sapped by homeowners who live overseas and have no emotional investment in the community.

While the problem can often by overstated by alarmist politicians looking to drum up votes, the empty homes issue is indeed significant enough to warrant certain policy protections against it. The foreign-buyers tax and speculation tax that were recently introduced by the NDP are too expansive, we believe, to adequately address the problem. But we’d certainly support more efficiently targeted measures to cut down on the practice of speculation in the real estate market.

But here in Langley, we don’t seem to suffer as much from the empty homes plague as our neighbors in Vancouver, Burnaby or Richmond. People who own homes in Langley tend to overwhelmingly live, work and raise their families in the region as well. They earn their money here in the province and spend it in the neighborhoods where they live. As such, Langley is nowhere near as likely to lose the character of its neighborhoods.

Our co-founder, Daniel Greenhalgh, is proud to be developing projects in this community. “I think Langley has a great quality of life, and that starts with the investment people feel in the community. Langley’s a great place to raise a family. It has wonderful schools, great street fairs, block parties. You can feel the sense of identity here. People who live here are usually here for the long haul, and they make it their home.” 

So for families who are looking to purchase a home or rent long-term in a purpose-built rental project like Willoughby Walk, we strongly consider checking out Langley. It’s not likely to lose its character any time soon.