Business In Vancouver - "To take a job in Vancouver, Calgary-based senior information management consultant Joey Roa would have to give up living in a 3,000-square-foot house just outside the downtown core."

Anecdote from Business in Vancouver article ‘Home truths hurt talent search’, as cited in Macleans 1 June 2011 -
“To take a job in Vancouver, Calgary-based senior information management consultant Joey Roa would have to give up living in a 3,000-square-foot house just outside the downtown core. He’d have to give up his 20-minute on-foot commute for what he figures would be “a considerable drive, at best.” He’d have to start paying provincial tax. He’d see his current $1.15-per-litre gas prices rise to what he terms Vancouver’s “insane” pump prices. And with Vancouver’s salaries failing to keep pace with Calgary’s oil-rich pay scale, he’d likely be looking at a pay cut to boot.”
Needless to say Roa is staying put in Calgary. He’s turned down several offers from head hunters in Vancouver, and the BIV story includes recruiters who are having trouble luring educated and experienced workers to the city. In short, Vancouver is increasingly being seen as a no-go zone for top talent.
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Another wave of articles in the MSM this week using strong language: “Outrageous house prices” (Maclean’s), “No-go zone” (BIV), real estate a “culprit” (Maclean’s), the “Vancouver Virus” (Maclean’s), “if house prices crashed” (Maclean’s).
We expect these phrases to ‘prime the pumps’. People hear these words but they don’t hear them; they don’t act on them. Buyers keep buying and prospective sellers sit on their hands. The surging prices and the stories of foreign buyers stalking the city overshadow any doubts that prices will continue upwards. Then, fairly suddenly, prices aren’t going up, then they’re dropping, and then these phrases will return to consciousness. Speculative buyers will disappear and speculative owners, including those who don’t even know they’re speculators, will bring their product to market. – vreaa