But the torrid growth ground to a halt earlier this year as home sales plummeted, along with construction of new homes and apartments.

The typical single-family home in Vancouver costs more than C$1.5 million ($1.15 million) - roughly 20x the median household income.

In an effort to let some air out of one of the continent's most egregious property bubbles, British Columbia's government has announced an unprecedented crackdown on money laundering in Vancouver's property market in an attempt to stop a housing-market collapse from taking the city's GDP with it.