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Most of the hate comes from people who got left out of the real estate price appreciation over the past 10 years in Vancouver. There are a lot of Canadians, ho

by drchiu 11y ago

Most of the hate comes from people who got left out of the real estate price appreciation over the past 10 years in Vancouver. There are a lot of Canadians, however, who benefited from a disproportionate increase in wealth over this period of time as well. In fact, many people who have bought multiple homes in Vancouver have now amassed a fortune which would make any startup founder who just got bought out by Google blush. It's sort of like being in the right place at the right time. Like if you just so happened to have owned a hardware shop and sold shovels when the gold rush happened. Toronto will probably be the next to experience the insane price increases we've seen in Vancouver as the housing inventory there becomes more scarce.

kohanz 11y ago
I lived and worked in Vancouver for a couple of years at an engineering firm. Our IT guy was a consultant who worked for a few companies. He was Asian, but I believe he had been in Canada for a long time. Anyway, we were always amazed by the different fancy car he would arrive in each time he came to our office (Ferrari, Lambo, you name it). I know IT guys can make decent money, but you wouldn't have expected this kind of wealth. Based on what we knew about he him, we concluded that he must have made his wealth as you said, right place, right time, in the Vancouver real estate bull market. While I was there he "retired" while he looked to be in his late 40s.
- drchiu 11y ago
  I think a lot of pundits and observers don't quite realize that there are only a few places in the world where the top 1% rich immigrants from China and other countries can actually feel comfortable moving to. Speaking only of Canada, Vancouver is one such place. Toronto is another. The relative housing price increase in places like -- say, Halifax -- although has gone up, will not be like that of Vancouver's or Toronto's. You need to follow the flow of money and the reason why there's the flow of money there. In this case, 1% of a very large population simply means there's going to be a lot of demand for flight to safety into Canadian real estate in Vancouver and Toronto -- two places where a lot of immigrants have already moved to. It's sort of like trying to start a new social networking app... you need a network effect for the app to even reach critical mass. Vancouver/Toronto -- that's what happened there.

by drchiu 11y ago

kohanz 11y ago

I lived and worked in Vancouver for a couple of years at an engineering firm. Our IT guy was a consultant who worked for a few companies. He was Asian, but I believe he had been in Canada for a long time. Anyway, we were always amazed by the different fancy car he would arrive in each time he came to our office (Ferrari, Lambo, you name it). I know IT guys can make decent money, but you wouldn't have expected this kind of wealth. Based on what we knew about he him, we concluded that he must have made his wealth as you said, right place, right time, in the Vancouver real estate bull market. While I was there he "retired" while he looked to be in his late 40s.

drchiu 11y ago
I think a lot of pundits and observers don't quite realize that there are only a few places in the world where the top 1% rich immigrants from China and other countries can actually feel comfortable moving to. Speaking only of Canada, Vancouver is one such place. Toronto is another. The relative housing price increase in places like -- say, Halifax -- although has gone up, will not be like that of Vancouver's or Toronto's. You need to follow the flow of money and the reason why there's the flow of money there. In this case, 1% of a very large population simply means there's going to be a lot of demand for flight to safety into Canadian real estate in Vancouver and Toronto -- two places where a lot of immigrants have already moved to. It's sort of like trying to start a new social networking app... you need a network effect for the app to even reach critical mass. Vancouver/Toronto -- that's what happened there.