The story of how Vancouver lost its affordability … and its mind

The Vancouver Sun

Vancouver is ridiculously expensive, we know this, but how did it get this way?

That’s the question the data crunchers at Visual Capitalist, a financial media company, attempt to answer in their Real Estate Mania infographic: The story of how Vancouver lost its affordability…and its mind.

The graphic, which took weeks to research and build, uses info from many datasets, including historical ones, which highlight everything from the “fall” of the East/West Vancouver price wall, the value of building permits from 1900 to 1915, and landings in Canada from Hong Kong.

“It’s a fascinating clash between demographics, bubble psychology, macroprudential policy, local regulations, and external factors that have revved up Vancouver’s real estate market to its current state,” Jeff Desjardins, the publisher of Visual Capitalist, said in a release. “The IMF, The Economist, and the Bank of Canada all warned us about this serious issue as it was developing, and now a local problem has turned into a national one. If this bubble pops, the aftershock will have an impact on all Canadians.”

Click here to read the full story and view the graphic.