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The popular historian and poet George Bowering feels guilty about selling his Point Grey home in Vancouver at the market price.

He hates that real estate has ridiculously inflated in Metro Vancouver. He is appalled that there is no longer any real correlation between the city’s (tepid) median wages and its astronomical housing and rental costs.

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“We feel terrible about the high housing prices. But we took advantage of them. So we’re hypocrites. We didn’t say: ‘We can’t take that offer. Cut it down by a million,’” said Bowering,81, who moved to Metro Vancouver in the 1950s.

It’s not for nothing that Bowering and wife, Jean Baird, are feeling gun-shy about selling their home for several times the price they bought it. Many people like to accuse Metro Vancouver’s ensconced homeowners of being greedy sods.

Is this helpful? I’ve witnessed potential discussions about the root causes of housing inequality in Metro Vancouver stopped short when someone righteously blurts: “I sure don’t feel sorry for people selling their homes for millions of dollars!”