Economy

Main article: Economy of Vancouver

Sir Norman Foster designed Jameson House building in Downtown Vancouver.

With its location on the Pacific Rim and at the western terminus of Canada's transcontinental highway and rail routes, Vancouver is one of the nation's largest industrial centres.^[62] Port Metro Vancouver, Canada's largest and most diversified port, does more than C$172 billion in trade with over 160 different trading economies annually. Port activities generate $9.7 billion in gross domestic product and $20.3 billion in economic output.^[134] Vancouver is also the headquarters of forest product and mining companies. In recent years, Vancouver has become a centre for software development, biotechnology, aerospace, video game development, animation studios and television production and film industry.^[135] The city's strong focus on lifestyle and health culture also makes it a hub for many lifestyle-brands with Lululemon, Kit and Ace,Mountain Equipment Co-op, Herschel Supply Co., Reigning Champ, and Nature's Path Organic Foods all founded and headquartered in Vancouver.

Vancouver's scenic location makes it a major tourist destination. Many visit to see the city's gardens, Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park,VanDusen Botanical Garden and the mountains, ocean, forest and parklands which surround the city. Each year over a million people pass through Vancouver on cruise ship vacations, often bound for Alaska.^[135]

Vancouver is the most stressed in the spectrum of affordability of housing in Canada.^[136] In 2012, Vancouver was ranked by Demographia as the second most unaffordable in the world, rated as even more severely unaffordable in 2012 than in 2011.^{[137][138][139][140]} The city has adopted various strategies to reduce housing costs, including cooperative housing, legalized secondary suites, increased density and smart growth. As of April 2010, the average two-level home in Vancouver sold for a record high of $987,500, compared with the Canadian average of $365,141.^[141]

Since the 1990s, development of high-rise condominia in the downtown peninsula has been financed, in part, by an inflow of capital fromHong Kong immigrants due to the former colony's 1997 handover to China.^[142] Such development has clustered in the Yaletown and Coal Harbour districts and around many of the SkyTrain stations to the east of the downtown.^[135] The city's selection to co-host the 2010 Winter Olympics was also a major influence on economic development. Concern was expressed that Vancouver's increasinghomelessness problem would be exacerbated by the Olympics because owners of single room occupancy hotels, which house many of the city's lowest income residents, converted their properties to attract higher income residents and tourists.^[143] Another significant international event held in Vancouver, the 1986 World Exposition, received over 20 million visitors and added $3.7 billion to the Canadian economy.^[144] Some still-standing Vancouver landmarks, including the SkyTrain public transit system and Canada Place, were built as part of the exposition.^[144]