Anyone who lives in Port Moody will know the city comes first in a number of things: first as City of the Arts, first as beer capital of the Tri-Cities and, possibly, first with local trolleys.
But should the city really put PoMo first when it comes to how developers market their condos?
We get the idea: Give local buyers first dibs and maybe even limit some of those sky-high prices spurred by speculators who buy pre-sale units with no intention of living in them.
The problem is, the policy wouldn’t do much to limit prices because the cost of new condo units in PoMo is already high, according to a recent analysis by Urban Analytics.
Even expanding the policy to Metro Vancouver, as suggested, would probably create a legal challenge for the city.
There may some marketing advantages for developers to give residents first chance at purchasing a unit but we doubt a Port Moody-first policy will do anything to keep housing prices down — although they'll probably attract a few votes for proponents going into a civic election year.
What's needed is more housing and more choices in the region at prices people can afford.
