Crabman pointed out this article in Vancouver Magazine asking that perennial question “To Buy or Not to Buy?“. The author seems to think now is a good time to buy, particularly if you’re extremely wealthy or partake in a ‘Fonzi Scheme’. That is to say, rent out part of your home to Fonzi:
Vancouver is behaving in a rational and even laudatory way. At the same time, we’re ensuring that centrally located single-family houses will probably never again be affordable to mere wage earners. The only buyers will be the very wealthy, and people like us: homeowners willing to take advantage of what an economist would call a “densification premium” but I prefer to call a Fonzie scheme, in honour of the rough-edged yet carefully groomed sitcom character who provided added value to the Cunninghams by bunking above their garage.
Vancouver’s response to the challenges of sustainability is one of the reasons our real-estate values have not followed similarly expensive American markets into the toilet, and probably won’t. And one of the reasons why, if you’re thinking of buying, now might well be a good time.
There are other reasons in the article for why ‘its different here, this time’, but I must say, I like the Fonzi Scheme the best.