At the most recent GHG meeting, I presented some preliminary research on house prices in Grandview from 1918 to 1946.
Select graph for a better view.
The data is drawn from real estate ads in the “Vancouver Daily World“, “Province” and “Sun” newspapers. The data was filtered to include only those ads that (1) related to property in Grandview; (2) were for a house (rather than an apartment building or business); and (3) listed a price.
The high point for average prices between the wars was in 1923, and the nadir was in 1935. The average price in 1935 was 60% lower than in 1923.
The Great Depression, from 1929/30 had an obvious effect on prices. However, the graph shows that the decline in prices began almost a decade earlier. Similarly, the effects of the second world war (an increase in Vancouver’s population for war work, the inclusion of more women in the paid work force, and emergency tenancy regulations) greatly stimulated house prices. However, here, too, we see that the increase had started to begin before the war.
Research continues.
grandviewheritagegroup.ca 