Article content

Record-breaking sales numbers. Bidding wars. A growing number of buyers from China. As a lifelong Vancouverite who left for Montreal two years ago, it all leaves me with a feeling of déjà vu.

In Vancouver, the boom began with bidding wars in tony neighbourhoods with million-dollar mansions, but the impact eventually rippled throughout the metropolitan area.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Chinese millionaires 'lined up' to buy Montreal real estate: expert Back to video

Today you are lucky to find a million-dollar teardown in Vancouver.

Between 2005 and 2017 in Vancouver, house prices increased more than 173 per cent. In Montreal today, the median price of a detached home on the island is just under half a million dollars. In Vancouver, it’s almost $3 million. Yet the median family income is similar in both cities. In Vancouver, it’s just under $80,000, compared with $77,000 here in Montreal.

But Montreal is not Vancouver, or Toronto, for that matter. Most analysts I spoke to say they don’t believe house prices will climb quite as high here. We are not locked on a finite piece of land like Vancouver is. We don’t have as many high-paying corporate jobs as Toronto does.