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“Will this make a difference? I don’t really know,” said Ross, who lives near the long delayed Little Mountain redevelopment. “It frustrates me as somebody who is completely priced out of the single family market that we can’t afford to buy in the area.”

The Angus Reid poll revealed a divide between what homeowners and renters hope will happen in the Metro Vancouver market. More than 53 per cent of owners — who have a vested interest in the equity in their homes — hope housing prices continue to increase or at least stay where they are. Only 22 per cent said they hope prices will fall by 30 per cent or more. Conversely, nearly three-quarters of renters hope prices fall by 30 per cent or more, illustrating their desire to become new homebuyers.

The poll also showed a high percentage of those polled (65) believe foreigners investing in the local market are responsible for the region’s housing misery.

Other reasons cited:

• Wealthy people investing in the real estate market — 41 per cent.

• Condos and houses being left empty by investor-owners — 37 per cent.

• Lack of government action on housing — 33 per cent.

Yet when it comes to the effect the new property purchase tax or tax on vacant homes will have on people, most polled were either ambivalent or feel it will help them. Fifty-six per cent of homeowners and 39 per cent of renters said the new purchase tax was neither good nor bad news to them. A majority of renters (56 per cent) said the tax was good news. The government’s decision to re-regulate the real estate industry and to also use money from the property purchase tax to ease affordability issues also drew high marks. Eighty-one per cent felt it would be effective or highly effective for the province to no longer allow the B.C. real estate industry to regulate and police itself. And slightly less than three-quarters of respondents supported the idea of once again collecting sales data to track real estate purchases by foreigners.

On whether the new measures are enough, the majority of those polled weren’t satisfied. Only three per cent said the taxes were adequate, with 71 per cent saying it was a step in the right direction.

“This is short-term approval, but nobody thinks this is enough,” Kurl said.

jefflee@postmedia.com

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