Is the Vancouver real estate market being driven by foreign buyers? At least one former city councilor seems to think so:

Peter Ladner says Vancouver’s home prices are out of control, and with China and Australia already restricting foreign ownership, Vancouverites should at least examine whether the idea makes sense.

Tsur Sommerville thinks it’s a non issue:

“If you go back to the 1980s, and the worry about Hongcouver, and all these kinds of things, Vancouver has been through this story before and I think most people think this city is better off now than it was in 1987,” said Somerville.

Full article at the CBC.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said the move had to be made to salvage the city’s investment.

From the CBC:

City officials say they intend to halt plans to rent out the units and sell them instead. Officials say they are still owed $758 million for the failed Olympic Village project built by Millennium, and once they sell off all the units, they still expect to lose $40 million to $50 million in the deal.

The city also says that the lawsuit by current owners over complaints of poor heating and leaking sewage at the Olympic Village are ‘bogus’.

Movahed is an engineer who moved to Canada from Iran in 2006 and landed a job at BC Hydro. The following year, he and his wife bought a condo in North Vancouver with a mortgage of well over $400,000.

He had a child, found he couldn’t afford his mortgage and decided to sell. Scotiabank has charged him $25,000 for paying out his mortgage early.

Details in this article at CBC.

First-time buyers are being offered deposits of up to £70,000 by their local council to help them on the property ladder, with taxpayers footing the bill if house prices fall.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

From a collection of aerial views of Florida real estate development.

A section of a housing development with two houses in place. More images on Boston.com