“The real story is how many jobs in hi-tech did this real estate boom kill? How many startups never bothered?”

Home owners have experienced paper and emotional gains from rising RE prices, and the construction industry has obviously experienced a period of boom. What is less obvious is that, for many, real estate prices have made Vancouver a less attractive city in which to live and work. Business have left Vancouver, or avoided it in the first place. Recent job cuts have people talking about this effect -

This from other ted at vancouvercondo.info 9th Nov 2009 11:11 pm -

“Let’s face it Kodak Canada is what is left of Creo. The [major] job cuts were in 2002 and 2003. There is almost nothing left there now. I don’t think I know anyone left working there, maybe a few. It won’t make a difference. The real story is how many jobs in hi-tech did this real estate boom kill? How many startups never bothered? How many real jobs vanished or were never created? The damage is done. Seriously, crash or no crash I can’t see myself moving back to Vancouver.”

This from patriotzed at vancouvercondo.info 10th Nov 2009 4:49 am -

“I took a high-tech management program from SFU back in the late 80’s when it looked like Vancouver had a real future in high tech. Our focus companies were Glenayre and Creo. For a metro to be a growth centre for high tech, it must be attractive to professional families. Vancouver was in the 80’s and 90’s and that’s the major reason why capital and workers were attracted here for the many startups. Make the metro unattractive, and you kill high tech. Housing in Seattle is a good deal cheaper than in Vancouver, and it is and has always been a major high tech hub – why on earth would anyone locate here instead of there, except to employ a few peons who couldn’t get H1B’s? Inside Canada look at Ottawa, or Waterloo, which are even cheaper. If housing gets down to and stays at 80’s real prices, high tech may get going again, but it looks like we’ve slipped back 20 years or more.”