Bob Rennie urges Vancouverites to give up on single family home dream

Real estate magnate Bob Rennie says young Vancouverites should let go of their dream of owning a single-family detached home in the city and embrace density if they want to stay.

Rennie, owner of Rennie Marketing Systems, will be speaking on the issue during his annual address to the Urban Development Institute on Friday.

As housing prices continue to skyrocket in Metro Vancouver, more and more educated young people with well-paying jobs are venting their frustration at being priced out of the real estate market. One Vancouver woman even took to Twitter to express her dissatisfaction by creating the hashtag #donthave1million.

With the average price for a single family home in Vancouver hitting $1.72 million in 2014, only densification will solve Vancouver's housing affordability dilemma, says Rennie.

"I think the problem we have with single family homes in Vancouver is we're not making anymore of them. We'll never create another single family lot in my lifetime. There's depleting inventory and increasing demand," Rennie told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

"So it's toxic."

According to Rennie, whose company was involved in high-profile projects like Vancouver's Olympic Village and the redevelopment of the historic Woodward's building, planners need to create a lot of density at once in order to drive down prices.

"I know nobody wants to hear that, but unless we're going to take a big broad brush stroke and add a lot of density, we're in trouble," he said.

Rennie will address the Urban Development Institute at 12 p.m. PT on Friday.

To hear the full interview with Bob Rennie, listen to the audio labelled: Vancouver condo marketer champions densification