Right, and the people that banded together to profit from this are the existing homeowners and landlords in Vancouver. The foreign investors are tiny in both numbers and political power compared to Vancouver landowners as a whole, and it really was existing landowners who profited, while flying a "preserve our great culture" flag by trying to not let new buildings be built.
The investors are the like-minded people who banded together to raise property values and benefit from it directly, while also exerting their will to keep new people out, or at least keep out everyone except the very wealthiest.
Calling this behavior "protective" of the city is tantamount to saying that the city is only for the investors.
> The foreign investors are tiny in both numbers and political power
The exact topic of this article: Small quantities of investors with different economic incentives can result in big effects.
> The investors are the like-minded people who banded together
I rather doubt that it was a concerted effort to band together. It's more akin to "curse of the commons": Each individual actor acting in their best interest results in emergent behavior.
The solution being pursued is to change the rules to dissuade certain behaviors that negatively impact the populace as a whole.
The effects of those small number of extra investors isn't huge however. In London it was 20% of the rise, but not most of it. It does fan flames, but there's got to be a spark to be fanned.
The investors are the like-minded people who banded together to raise property values and benefit from it directly, while also exerting their will to keep new people out, or at least keep out everyone except the very wealthiest.
Calling this behavior "protective" of the city is tantamount to saying that the city is only for the investors.