A new heat map by Estate Block utilizes data from the National Household Survey to determine where different immigrant ethnicities reside in Metro Vancouver and across the South Coast.

The map, built by Estate Block and shared across Reddit, highlights where 10 of the most populous groups of immigrants live, including those from the United Kingdom, India, China, Philippines, Hong Kong, South Korea, Iran, United States, Netherlands and Taiwan.

Immigrants in Metro Vancouver by majority in the neighbourhood shows Chinese make up the largest proportion of immigrants in most of Metro Vancouver, particularly the City of Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond.

Vancouver’s Kitsilano, Point Grey, Fairview and False Creek areas are predominately made up of immigrants from the UK, as well as the West End, much of North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Delta and Langely.

Iranians tend to live in West Vancouver’s British Properties and Ambleside area, lower North Vancouver, Coal Harbour, the Central Business District and Downtown South.

Immigrants from the Philippines make up the majority in some of East Vancouver, East Richmond and North Surrey.

According to the 2011 Census, there are 159,200 people living in Metro Vancouver born in China, 111,265 born in India, 87,945 from Philippines, 72,230 from Hong Kong and 61,255 born in the United Kingdom.

http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/05/immigrant-map-live-metro-vancouver/

Stagnating wages and soaring real estate could trigger an exodus of millennials from Metro Vancouver, according to a new report sounding the alarm about a potentially looming labour crisis.

Between 2001 and 2014, housing costs in the region increased 63 per cent while average wages for full-time workers grew only 36 per cent, Vancity’s “Help Wanted” report found.

The gap was most pronounced in Vancouver, where home resale values spiked a staggering 211 per cent over that period.

Vancity said if the trend continues, the vast majority of workers won’t be able to afford the average Metro Vancouver mortgage by the year 2025, and that could lead to a mass migration.

“More and more, people are wanting to live in the communities where they work,” Vancity vice-president of community investment Andy Broderick said in a statement.

“If these communities are not affordable, workers will look elsewhere.”

Only three of the 88 jobs deemed high-demand by the B.C. government will pay enough to afford housing in 10 years, according to the report: senior business managers, senior construction managers and engineering managers.

That would leave out everyone from lawyers to specialist doctors to firefighters.

Vancity’s report describes millennials as “very mobile and the most highly educated generation ever,” and warns many won’t hesitate to leave in pursuit of an easier path to home-ownership.

In fact, the trend may have already started: Vancouver lost 1,571 residents in the 20-30 age group in 2013, up from 770 the year before, according to Vancity.

The report recommends businesses aim to offer employees a living wage, and that local and provincial governments work together to push for more affordable housing and rental units.

To read the full “Help Wanted: salaries, affordability and the exodus of labour from Metro Vancouver” report, click here. 

April was the hottest month for B.C. home sales in a decade, the British Columbia Real Estate Association says.

In a release this morning the BCREA said that total sales last month added up to $6.3 billion. That’s a 45.5-per-cent increase over April 2014.

The average MLS residential price shot up 13 per cent from last April, to $634,744.

"Last month was the strongest April for home sales in a decade,” Cameron Muir, BCREA chief economist, said in the release. “The elevated level of buying activity this spring is now expected to push 2015 home sales to their highest level since 2007.”

The release added that during the first four months of 2015, B.C. residential sales added up to $19 billion, a 37.1-per-cent increase when compared with the same period in 2014

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/home+sales+April+highest+mark+decade/11055302/story.html#ixzz3ap8NbJtp