So I moved here not too long ago from another province and was told from a friend that most of Vancouver and surrounding areas use Craigslist to buy & sell items. I'll be honest I was pretty surprised. Anyways, is this true? Or is this outdated information?

I posted this as a comment on a separate thread, but there was a decent amount of positive feedback so I thought I'd turn it into its own post because... Karma? But also, I think it's an important topic and deserves some discussion. Here's the original comment:

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For the last few weeks, I've been checking Craigslist every day to see what the housing rental market is doing in Vancouver. Here are my observations so far:

• Average prices of listings seem to have already fallen by about $200-300 per unit in most neighbourhoods. I've seen some places literally listed again each week at $100 less than they were the week before (and some of them are still dropping).

• A TON of very obviously AirBnB places (furnished, professional photos) are on the market, and they're getting more and more desperate. Most started as "short term only, furnished" and then became "Short term preferred, furnished" and are now "Short or long term, furnished of unfurnished." They're also dropping prices - sometimes aggressively.

• To keep up, some larger and more commercial property owners - and even some smaller ones - are starting to offer discounts. "First month free" or "First six months at half price" or "MOVE IN SPECIAL! Gift card + gym membership" etc. are starting to pop up more and more.

• For the first time since I can remember, I'm regularly seeing places that feel more affordable coming back on the market. Don't get me wrong - shit still ain't cheap. But there are multiple new listings every day for decent 1br places in the $1,200 range (would be very affordable for a couple earning minimum wage), and there are starting to be decent 2br places for ~$1,400 popping up regularly.

And, I suspect things are just beginning:

The Canadian government reports that more than 150,000 international students were enrolled in public and private postsecondary institutions, elementary and secondary schools and private language training schools in B.C. in 2017.... International students in all institution types are concentrated in Lower Mainland/Southwest institutions (68%) (HESLOP, 2018).

That's ~102,000 int'l students in metro Vancouver. Let's say even HALF of those student leave (or have already left and don't come back) - that's about 50,000 fewer people needing homes come September.

Also...

Short-term rental platform Airbnb says hosts in the city of Vancouver earned $62 million this summer. The company said about 224,000 guests stayed in Airbnb listings in Vancouver between May 24 and Sept. 2 [of 2019], with the typical booking being worth $169... According to the city, as of the end of August there were 5,866 active listings in Vancouver. (Global News, 2019)

That's 224,000 less short term listings, from a total of ~6,000 total units that will be empty.

On top of that, I couldn't find any stats but anecdotally we know that every summer hundreds if not thousands of young professionals on working holiday visas some from the UK, Ireland, Australia, etc. to work in bars, restaurants, and the film industry.

Then, factor in that unemployment in Metro Vancouver was 5.4% in March, expected to grow to ~10% through April. That means 262,000 people out of work, making no money or $2,000 per month from the CERB. Thousands of those people are likely to start breaking their leases to reduce expenses by living with their partners, parents, or room mates. And thousands of these inter-provincial workers and students are abandoning the city to go back to their home cities - and many may never come back.

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The reason things are slow to drop is that as other users have mentioned, rental prices are "sticky" and not just influenced by immediate supply and demand forces. Just to give two examples of why there would be a lag:

1. A couple bought a house with a "mortgage helper" suite. Their mortgage was $5,000 per month, and they can't really afford that on their income, but the tiny 1br airbnb basement suite was bringing in ~$2000 per month in extra income (rented out at $180 per night for an average of 12 nights per month). Now, that income is gone. They defer payments for 2 months to give them some time to find someone. Then, they list it on Craigslist for $2,000 for April 1 to try and replace what they were making, but there are no takers. So, they reduce the price to $1,900 for May 1. As of right now, they still have no takers, so they re-list for May 15th for $1,800. But, they literally can't afford to go lower than this; if they can't make at least $1,800 per month off the unit, they won't be able to afford to make their mortgage payments on their income. Some people email them asking about the unit to see if they'll take $1,500, but they hold firm (for now) at $1,800 because they know they can't afford to take less.

2. A landlord with three buildings (8 total units) has had tenants move out (they moved back to their hometown because they lost their jobs at a restaurant). The tenants were paying $2,500 for a 2br. The landlord lists the place at $2,500 for April 1. No takers, so he re-lists at $2,300 for May 1. Still no one. He does the math; $400 per month is worth $9,600 in rent over two years, and his tenants usually stay for about two years. $9,600 is almost 4 months' rent, so he figures it's worth it to wait up to 4 months at the current price rather than drop it another $200/month just to try to find someone so he holds tight for now. He figures he can always from in June if it's still empty.

In both of these cases, something will give eventually if things don't get better. As more and more tenants miss their rental payment and landlords start to read the writing on the wall, I expect we'll see an even more rapid decrease in rental prices. Some landlords won't be able to get tenants at break-even costs, and will be forced to sell or foreclose (and of course, this will start to have impacts on real estate values). Starting in late summer, the impact of the missing students and int'l workers will really start to kick in. And of course, even as the economy picks back up some people will run out of CERB after 4 months but their jobs won't yet be back online (or they may never come back because the business they worked for went under).

I know this was a LOOOOOOONG post, but I feel like some of these stats and stories are worth keeping in mind as we imagine what's to come. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and we haven't really even BEGUN to feel the economic impacts of this pandemic yet. If I had to put money on it, I'd guess that the current softening is going to get worse and worse, and by the end of the summer or definitely by September, you'll start to see a real, bonafide collapse in YVR real-estate.

tl;dr: Prices have already softened, and there are WAY more rentals out there than usual. Plus, there are about to be 50,000+ fewer international students in Vancouver, 200,000+ tourists who won't visit this summer, thousands of summer holiday visa workers who'll stay away, and a quarter-million locals out of work. It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks, but I strongly suspect we haven't seen the bottom of this yet - not even close.

Moving to Vancouver from abroad early next year and want to start looking for accommodations early.

I’ve went to many sites like padmapper, zillow, RentalsCA, etc but they dont have that many listings compared to craigslist. I heard many bad things about craigslist so I’m wondering if I should bother looking there?

Thanks in advance! If this post breaks any rules feel free to remove it.