BCBusiness

8 BCBusiness JANUARY 2016 PoRtRAit: AdAm blAsbeRg The old adage was that Vancouverites had two sports about which they were truly passionate: the Canucks and real estate. The passion for our NHL team has ebbed and flowed with its on-ice fortunes (here's hoping for 2016!), while local real estate can now best be described as a blood sport. Even talking about home prices and what's behind their meteoric rise is likely to land you in hot water these days. A study released in November by urban planner Andy Yan was one of the most high- profile efforts to shed light on the subject— or pour gasoline on it, depending on your perspective. Yan examined statistics for 172 transactions on Vancouver's west side between August 2014 and February 2015—and, contro- versially, screened the data for non-anglicized Chinese names. Yan's thinking: recent immi- grants were unlikely to have adopted an English first name (like, say, "Andy" Yan—a third-generation Canadian). Yan's findings? Two-thirds of all sales of detached homes in UBC's Endowment Lands, Dunbar and Point Grey were purchased by buyers with non-anglicized Chinese names, with the same group account- ing for 88 per cent of home purchases over $5 million. The fallout? Every- body from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson on down called Yan's methodology racist, casting doubt on his key findings. The release of Yan's report gave us pause here at BCBusiness. For months, we've been working on a similar study of home ownership on Vancouver's west side—delaying publication sev- eral times, for various reasons. One of the key reasons: we were unwilling to draw definitive conclusions about who's really behind the upswell in prices in Vancouver real estate. Yes, we saw similar patterns to Yan (about 70 per cent of homes we initially surveyed had Chinese names on the title)—but we didn't want to make the leap as to where those "names" came from. And ulti- mately, what was the story we wanted to tell? What we decided on was a snapshot of one street—Angus Drive, arguably the toniest address in the wealthiest section of west-side Vancouver—and a deep dive into 40 transac- tions, randomly selected, on that street over a three-year period. We didn't explore ques- tions of surnames but instead focused on a few telling statistics: the percentage of all-cash transactions; the occupation of the buyers; the magnitude of price increases (compared to similar Canadian neighbourhoods); and the percentage of homes torn down, rebuilt or completely remodelled within a year of sale. Our findings? We don't want to ruin the sur- prise—turn to page 48 ("Who Lives on Angus Drive?") for more—but the signposts are clear. As realtor Les Twarog of Re/Max Crest West- side puts it: "The market is crazy, crazy nuts." C O N T R I B U T O R S Matt O'Grady, Editor-in-Chief mogrady@canadawide.com / @bCbusiness When writer Mary beach was researching "Go Ahead...Shoot Me" (p.14), a production manager told her that in filmmaking, every day is different. "It's so much like daily journalism, " she says, "except filmmakers try to make it look like something's happening and don't like surprises, but journalists want surprises, and it has to be stuff that really happened." After moving to Vancouver from New York, where she worked in advertising, Beach studied journalism at Langara. "What you discover is truth is stranger than fiction and a lot more interesting." "I'm a very laid-back guy. I have super big hair and I make fun of it, " says Vancouver photographer Pooya Nabei. For "Hey Big Spender" (p.26), his background as an engineer meant he could bond with his math-teacher subject over similarities between math and photography: "It's best to just let go and let your personality show." Who Lives Here editor's desk In FEBRUARY We look at the power of B.C.'s most influential brands and profile the new face of philanthropy

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