The New Landlords: Asian Investment in Canadian Real Estate

Aluin Gilchrist is a Vancouver-based Canadian government civil
litigation lawyer.

Gutstein is a professional researcher and a journalist. He lectures at
Simon Fraser University, where one can sit on the grass of Mount
Parnasus, in the austere grandeur of the Academic Quadrangle, and look
west over the city of Vancouver to the Pacific. The Coast Range’s snow
and granite press in from the north, and urban blight covers the
formerly fertile Fraser River lowlands, south to the nearby U.S. border.

Although this area is not so unlike Hong Kong, local people feel that,
when “Eastasia” (Michael Goldberg’s word) money is invested in
Vancouver, the owners are insensitive to the new land. A frenzy of
building office towers and condominiums occurs; and perfectly good small
houses are bulldozed, to be replaced by huge, monstrously ugly ones
built to the legal limits—much to the discomfort of people living
nearby. Eastasia money has bid prices up to the level where no one with
normal income can finance the purchase of an ordinary home.

Gutstein reports by whom, where, and how the Eastasia money was made;
where, how, and why it is being invested in Canadian real estate; and
who has helped and who has profited.

Porcépic Books brings us a very well-made book. However, the index is
brief, which is a pity, because this information will be very valuable
as years go by. This work should be in your reference collection. An
intriguing book.