Young Professionals Flee the West Side

[whatnext]

Interesting article in the Globe about how today;s your professionals have little interest living on the West Side. It's not just the high prices, its the lack of interesting restaurants and retail:

There was a time when the lush west side of Vancouver was the city’s most desirable place to live. For anyone under 40, those days are over.

The city has undergone a radical shift, with the vast majority of young people moving away from Point Grey, Dunbar, Kerrisdale, South Granville and other west side neighbourhoods. They’ve migrated to the more exciting urban centres, and not just for reasons of affordability. It might have been the initial reason, but now the younger cohort is choosing the east side for its livability and charm...

....Real estate agent Keith Roy, 33, is catering to the east side client who would have once chosen to live on the west side. But the west side, he says, has lost its cool.

“These buyers are accountants, lawyers, engineers, doctors, tech people and management consultants, and they are double income. So you get two people making six figures,” he says. “But they don’t want to be on the west side any more. They want to be between Fraser and Cambie, they want Main Street, and if they can afford it, they want Douglas Park. And they’re going further east....


http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/...ticle23555084/