Speaking as someone who recently moved to Vancouver, I fully expect never to own a house. However, my life fits into that plan quite nicely. Vancouver, for better or worse, is a city that is wonderful for the privileged. I am 31, I make an income in the top 10%, and I don't have any children. I live in Kitsilano, and I have a view from my kitchen window that would probably fit into a top 100 kitchen window views Buzzfeed list.
I spend a lot on going out and having fun. After all, that is the point of living in the Vancouver core. I don't live like a pauper. Who wants that?
I also probably save 20% of my income into a TFSA or RRSP. I also have a defined benefit pension at work. I would really like to be safe and stable at retirement. I personally don't think that a house is a very good investment. The market does fluctuate over time, and regardless what our resident real estate propagandists on CP say, there is definitely going to be a correction here in the Lower Mainland.
If you can afford to get into that market, and reap some of the gains, well, good for you, but your behaviour is just making a bad situation worse.
The real problem here is affecting the bottom 50% of the income scale, and like some have said, this is a problem everywhere.
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