Greetings from Vancouver

I ran into a friend this morning who in turn introduced me to his friend, visiting from Vancouver. This man told me that the Vancouver real estate market, which has been booming for years with bushels of international money, shut down early this summer "like turning off a spigot". Apparently Vancouver goes through these spells more frequently than Greenwich but the pattern seems similar: prices go up, which draws in builder/developers from throughout Canada (turns out, Vancouver's in Canada - who knew?)and everyone overbuilds,office buildings, condominium developments and huge, multi-million dollar mansions. This continues until the bust, when everything that's been so recently built comes rushing back onto the market at fire-sale prices. This, the Canadian said, acts like a vortex, sucking down everything around it and prices of existing homes drop into its maw.

I'm pretty sure we're witnessing the beginning of that phenomenon here. Hold on.