Reply to comment

The problem with "average sales price" data is that when sales of houses at one of the market dominate the stats, they drag the average in their direction. I think the foreclosures and short sales in the last year skewed the stats too dramatically downward. As a result, as the higher end of the market unfreezes, the upward numbers are going to look overly dramatic as well. Chris's stat of 11x price-to-median is really crazy. Of course, Vancouver is a great city, and most Canadians would call it their favorite. I'm sure it attracts the wealthy retirees and second-home-owning Canadians. But 11x? (3x or maybe 4x is more typical...the Bay Area got up to 6x.) Are the development rules really restrictive?