Anyone who’s been thinking about वैंकूवर करने के लिए स्थानांतरित — or anyone trying to find a place to live in B.C.’s largest city — can’t help but wonder about local real estate prices.

The current average price for a house in metropolitan Vancouver is nearly $800,000, के अनुसार ग्रेटर वैंकूवर के रियल एस्टेट बोर्ड.

And if you’re hoping to live on Vancouver’s West Side, prepare to spend double that amount. Westside detached homes are now averaging almost $1.7 दस लाख.

With prices this high, perhaps it’s not surprising that a recent ग्लोब & मेल article wondered, “Is Vancouver in a real estate bubble?”

Yet despite the headline, the article gives relatively little space to real estate price trends and much more ink to the effect of overseas buyers, particularly those from Asia, on Vancouver’s real estate market.

बेशक, Vancouver’s popularity with wealthy Chinese investors isn’t news. The ग्लोब & मेल टुकड़ा acknowledges as much and argues that:

The torrid affair between eastern Asia and Vancouver real estate, अब अपने तीसरे दशक में, is actually a love triangle from which each party derives very different things.

When wealthy Chinese immigrants buy property in Vancouver—and they utterly dominate the top end of the market—they’re actually buying a form of insurance.

What the federal and provincial governments get out of these newly minted Canadians turns out to be a modern form of the infamous head tax that was imposed on Chinese migrants in the 19th century.

And what Vancouver gets is an economy that boasts a lot of froth, और बहुत ज्यादा नहीं पदार्थ.

के बाद से Vancouver is consistently ranked among the best places in the world to live, perhaps it’s not surprising, के रूप में ग्लोब article says, कि “Vancouver is popular as a lifestyle destination for those who can afford it—not as a place to make a living. More ambitious immigrants, Asian and otherwise, चयन होने की संभावना है टोरंटो.”

वास्तव में, ब्रिटिश कोलंबिया (which essentially means Greater Vancouver) के बारे में प्राप्त करता है 15% of all Canadian immigrants, जो, given its population, is only slightly more than its proportional share.

दूसरी ओर, यह वार्षिक का लगभग आधा हो जाता है 10,000 or so people who can prove they are already wealthy and therefore eligible for easier, if more expensive, में सवारी entrepreneur और निवेशक कक्षाएं. और वैंकूवर के बाकी 15% share fits a distinctly different profile than do immigrants to places like Toronto and Montreal: more skilled and better educated, और शरणार्थियों के रूप में आने के लिए बहुत कम संभावना.

Perhaps Vancouver is becoming such a cool place to live that — as in other high-priced cities like New York or Paris — people will squeeze into ever-tinier spaces to live the “Vancouver lifestyle.”

तुम्हें क्या लगता है? Is the Vancouver real estate market in a “bubble” that’s going to burst?

या will Vancouver continue to be a wildly popular place to live, regardless of the housing costs?

Leave a comment and let us know. और please post tips for newcomers to Vancouver who are looking for an affordable place to live! धन्यवाद.

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अद्यतन: के अनुसार RE/MAX Housing Market Outlook 2011, residential home prices are expected to climb further across Canada in the coming year. In addition, “Markets in British Columbia are forecast to lead the country in terms of percentage increases in sales activity next year, ग्रेटर वैंकूवर चढ़ने की उम्मीद के साथ 10 प्रतिशत…” Bubble or not?

द्वारा वैंकूवर हाउस फोटो pnwra (फ़्लिकर)