[sandworm]

And how's the weather where you are?

I took my dog to the dog beach this morning. Sunny and 12* ABOVE. We had one day of snow this year. And the "wet coast" is really a myth. Seattle gets rain, but Vancouver is tucked behind Vancouver Island and is much drier.

In all seriousness, the real estate market is driven by people with money, the investor class. They are older and do not necessarily work, or they work internationally and can park their families anywhere they want. So Vancouver, being Canadian but without Canadian winters, is something different. I think Toronto will burst long before Vancouver.

[sandworm]

Old data. I don't want to start a climate change debate, but since the rain of 90s Vancouver is very different. Extremely dry summers are now the norm.

http://globalnews.ca/news/754673/july-2013-the-all-time-drie...

Take a look at these images from January and December of last year. It is very hard to believe canada can be like this in winter. (I just grabbed a couple from my phone).

http://i.imgur.com/Kv9y42n.jpg http://i.imgur.com/4bTEfbr.jpg

[hsitz]

"And the "wet coast" is really a myth. Seattle gets rain, but Vancouver is tucked behind Vancouver Island and is much drier."

This is just blatantly false, and easy to check. Vancouver average annual rainfall is around 45 inches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle#Climate Seattle average annual rainfall is around 37 inches. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle#Climate Vancouver also gets more snow. I guess Seattle is "tucked in" behind the Olympic Peninsula better than Vancouver is behind Vancouver Island.

[jbarham]

> And the "wet coast" is really a myth.

Nice try but Vancouver really is wet and miserable most days in winter. I know because I lived there for 5 years. Sure winter is more bearable than Halifax or St John's but that's not saying much.

Now I live in Melbourne and just laugh and point to the banana tree in my backyard when people complain about winter here.

[Jack000]

if we're going with the Chinese investors are inflating real estate prices theory - most Chinese people would probably find the cold winters in the rest of Canada a deal breaker, whereas the rain in Vancouver is a mild inconvenience. If you don't want to go to the US, Vancouver Canada and Australia are at the top of the list - Vancouver doubly so because of the large native Chinese population.

Personally I think the foreign investment segment in the Vancouver real estate market is a bit over-reported. A large part of the demand here comes from East-Asian immigrants (30% of the population) who will buy a home despite renting being a better fiscal option. This is reflected in the gap between ownership and rental prices.