[GauntletWizard]

Canada is very different than the US - Significantly because it's much easier to buy a home as a foreign national, which has made cities like Vancouver attractive investment spots for Chinese businessmen who want to get some of their money overseas.

It's shortsighted to point to one item as being "the reason", but it's equally shortsighted to ignore major American cities (Let's be real - This is HN, we're talking about SF) shortsighted development policies as major contributing factors.