In Vancouver, house owners made more sitting on their assets than entire population did by actually working last year | South China Morning Post

 

That eye-popping calculation comes courtesy of mathematician Dr Jens von Bergmann, a former teacher at Notre Dame and the University of Calgary.

 

His calculations - which are the result of combining data from the Census and National Household Survey, the City of Vancouver, Metro Vancouver and BC Assessment – show just how much more lucrative it is to own a house in Vancouver compared to, say, slogging away in a cubicle or on the end of a shovel with the rest of the schmucks.

 

Von Bergmann, who first posted his findings on the MountainMath site earlier this year, also raises an interesting point about the Vancouver affordability debate: while there is a hue and cry about the origins of buyers' money as it floods into the market, there is a lot less about how to treat that money once it has arrived in the bank accounts of sellers. "[There is] a tendency to view the money that is buying Vancouver real estate very critically, whereas once locals pocket the land value rises that same money is suddenly welcome and well-deserved," he said. "I find the vilification of the money pre-purchase in contrast to the silent acceptance of the money post-purchase problematic."

http://www.scmp.com/comment/blogs/article/1962014/vancouver-house-owners-made-more-sitting-their-assets-entire