I wonder how much of this and similar cases are based on low interests. You can't keep your money in the bank because you won't get any interests and at the same time leveraging your money and buying housing is cheaper. So maybe the solution to housing prices is significantly higher interest rates?
The issue described is not unique to Vancouver, it's a worldwide phenomenon, lots of desirable locations across the globe are facing the same (from Auckland to London to Sydney to Zurich), even in my hometown in Montevideo, Uruguay, houses are going for ridiculous prices.
A good measure on whether housing is overvalued (IMO) is how many salaries it takes to buy a house. A good salaries to house ratio was something like 4 yearly salaries, it's currently over 10 for England, with some places going to 20 yearly salaries for a house:
As someone who doesn't own any property, I really hope the housing bubble explodes. OTOH there are people who have gotten very wealthy just by inheriting and holding property, who must dread the same scenario, but where can they safely store their value? As mentioned, interest rates are very low or negative.
