“He’s a lawyer. She’s a manager. His mom’s a doctor. Just the kind of people who could live anywhere, and do it well. But not Vancouver. This is how a bubble can eat a city.”

“He’s a lawyer. She’s a manager. His mom’s a doctor. The family has breeding and expectations, not to mention wealth and upward mobility. Just the kind of people who could live anywhere, and do it well. Make the locals inadequate. But not Vancouver.
Some months ago he was offered a job at a prestigious BC law firm with the usual perqs, Big cheques. Moving costs. Status office. West Georgia ain’t Bay Street, but there was the appeal of a city which fashions itself green, progressive, sporty and insufferably self-centred. Besides, you can drive the Carrera all year. Sweet.
But it took just one weekend of house-hunting on the west side, in West Van, even North Van and down to White Rock to send the ambitious thirtysomethings fleeing back to godless Toronto. “They are,” he told me, “nuts. What possible benefit is there changing jobs and doubling my salary when I have to pay triple for a lesser house?” Left unsaid: If I’m going to move to a regional city with no subway and no prestige at least I expect to live better, not worse.
This is how a bubble can eat a city.”
– anecdote relayed by Garth Turner at greaterfool.ca 18 Oct 2011