Sounds like a self-made problem with nimbys and inefficient planning for new housing.
Nine students 'own' a combined $57M in vancouver property: http://www.news1130.com/2016/09/14/nine-students-own-57m-wor...
Another point that is not often raised is the crazy increases are mainly in detached houses. Condos and attached properties have increased a lot, but not nearly as frothy as detached houses. Suggests the type of purchase that is driving the increases. http://www.news1130.com/2016/02/02/vancouver-house-price-new...
Is there something that is tilting the balance the other way? I.e. Making renting out for some amount not worth it?
One reasoning I heard is because our winters are so brutal, it would be inhumane to kick people out in the cold.
Besides, not having tenants helps increase the upward pressure on property prices. Like trying to corner the silver market.
Maybe they are, and it's just all being conducted on a cash basis. Or if a Chinese owner is renting to another Chinese expat, they could be handling the rent payments in China (advantageous as it avoids moving the money outside China, which I am led to believe can be difficult and is one reason for the complex real-estate-based 'money parking' schemes in the first place).
The tax on "vacant" properties should probably be set equivalent to the income tax that one would pay on the average rent that you could extract from the property if it were fully rented. That would discourage actual vacancy and eliminate much of the incentive to have under-the-table renters.
If we shifted taxes away from production and onto land use in general, regardless of whether it is vacant or not, we would no longer see this underutilization of land, and also end the perverse incentives of taxes on productive activity.
Vancouver isn't San Francisco.
The vast majority is zoned for single family homes, and any kind of densification is resisted vigorously by existing property owners. E.g. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/commercial-dr...
There's no question Vancouver is building, but it is not building enough of the right kind of housing (i.e. rental, non-luxury, and > 1 bedroom units).