7-in-10 Say Housing Costs Will Have At Least Some Influence on Their Vote

7-in-10 Say Housing Costs Will Have At Least Some Influence on Their Vote

Most believe the government has the power to affect change on housing

Toronto, May 4th – In a random sampling of public opinion taken by The Forum Poll™ among 1067 British Columbia voters, 7-in-10 (70%) say that the issue of housing costs will have at least some influence on their vote. Of this proportion, more than forty-percent (41%) say it will have a large amount of influence on their vote, and almost a third (29%) say it will have some influence on their vote, with just under a quarter (24%) saying it will have no influence. (7%) say they do not know.

Respondents most likely to say it will have a large amount of influence on their vote include those aged 34 and younger (49%) or 35-44 (48%), the least wealthy (54%), with some college/university (44%), living on Vancouver Island (44%) or Vancouver/Lower Mainland (42%), and supporting the NDP (55%).

Respondents most likely to say it will have some influence include those aged 65+ (32%), earning $40,000-$60,000 (33%), $80,000-$100,000 (31%), or the most wealthy (32%), with a post graduate degree (36%), and supporting the Green Party (35%).

Respondents most likely to say housing costs will have no influence on their vote include those aged 65+ (32%), earning $80,000-$100,000 (27%) or the most wealthy (28%), with some college/university (24%) or a college/university degree (26%), living in BC Interior North (34%) and supporting the Liberals (42%).

More than a third think the government has a lot of power to affect the cost of housing

(34%) say that the government has a lot of power to impact the cost of housing in BC. More than 4-in-10 (42%) say the government has some power, with (14%) saying the government has little power to impact housing costs, and (3%) saying it has no power at all. (7%) say they do not know how much the government can impact housing costs.

Almost two-thirds would support Green proposal to double foreign buyer’s tax

More than 6-in-10 (62%) say they would support the doubling of the foreign buyer’s tax on real estate from 15% to 30%. Under a quarter (21%) would oppose such a measure, while (16%) say they do not know. 

Respondents most likely to say they support a doubling of the foreign buyer’s tax include those aged 34 and younger (68%), 35-44 (66%), females (65%), earning $40,000-$60,000 (74%) or $60,000-$80,000 (76%), with a college/university degree (66%), living in BC Interior North (72%), and supporting the NDP (71%) or Green Party (68%).

Respondents most likely to say they oppose a doubling of the foreign buyer’s tax include those aged 45-54 (26%), 55-64 (23%), or 65+ (24%), earning $80,000-$100,000 (27%) or the most wealthy (27%), with some college/university (23%) or a post-graduate degree (25%), living in Vancouver/Lower Mainland (22%) or on Vancouver Island (21%), and Liberal supporters (34%).

"Housing costs are still at the top of mind for many voters, and most believe that the government has at least some power to affect housing rates in the province, which means if costs don’t come down, the governing party is likely to get the blame,” said Dr. Lorne Bozinoff, President of Forum Research.

Lorne Bozinoff, Ph.D. is the president and founder of Forum Research. He can be reached at lbozinoff@forumresearch.com or at (416) 960-9603.