The woman and her husband bought the house off Main Street b/c it was an OK neighborhood, it was in the city (and not the 'burbs) and could afford it, and they were planning to have a baby, so needed a small house. Then four or so years later, baby #1 was born, they started planning for baby #2, and realized they needed a bigger house.

By luck, and probably some good research/planning they had bought a good if old and basic house and modestly updated it. The market also happened to be going up, and that area was becoming hot. They also just happened to be ready to buy a bigger house, with more green space (in a different area completely), to accommodate baby #2. They sold and made a lot of money. That's not unjustified; that is, they were simply selling at what the market was offering at the time. I don't know them all that closely, but I wouldn't say at all they were infected with any mania for unearned, easy money...just happened to be good timing in terms of their life decisions, and the state of the market then. Sure, I'd have loved to turn $350K into $850K in less than six years like that...why not? Wish I'd have been smarter, as we bought our condo for not a whole lot less at just the same time, and condos appreciate much less than land and houses.

For me to speculate whether speculation is part of it, well, I can't. Sure, there are those driven by greed. And speculation happens, but I don't think it is coming to define the real estate market here. There are plenty of other places to buy in Vancouver --but not in that particular neighborhood-- for much less money, that may, or may not, appreciate much in the short term. If you want a $12 million seaside mansion, they can be had in West Van (probably won't double in value in the next 5-6 years...not much speculative pressure there ;-)). If you want a $300,000 basic 'Vancouver special' ugly fixer-upper house, they can be had too, but might give you a good return with a big renovation. I don't know, some are driven by greed, some just have good timing (and some bad).

Maybe I'm amoral? ;-) But, I don't think I'm greedy if I say I wish I'd (we'd) had made the same kind of real estate decision this very modest couple had. Coulda woulda shoulda. Bloody condo! ;-)