Yes, yes, Doc, it's all different now.  Or is it?
In the late 1880s, a lot near Granville and Dunsmuir was selling for $400.  By 1893, a lot in the same area sold for $1,100, and, by 1900, an adjoining lot went for roughly $4,250. 

In 1912, when many workers were earning around $2 an hour and a tailored suit cost less than $40, a lot in the very same area was worth $725,000.  Real estate fever was high, "an orgy of borrowing, spending, and inflation, a place where real estate fever had even hit those who could least afford it."  Who was buying? More than 40% of the land-purchase applications received were from working-class people. Some were Asian

Fast forward to 1914: Vancouver’s real estate had bubble burst; commercial rents declined by 50%, and ordinary working people, no longer able to meet their obligations, defaulted on their loans. South Van. went into receivership. Construction sector was at a standstill.
Source: From Land of Destiny, Jesse Donaldson, The Dependent Magazine.