There is nothing affordable for your average family in those areas either. Based on what I'm seeing, most new housing stock in the burbs is being pre-sold overseas and a lot of it is luxury one bedroom condos that most people can't afford. In light of this, getting families to move back to Vancouver is not all that unrealistic when you consider that there are fewer townhouses being built by developers ( condos are more lucrative) in the suburbs and renting a three bedroom in Surrey - if you can find one - will cost you the same as a 700K mortgage.  I know some people in Surrey or Coquitlam who would love to rent a three bedroom coach house in Vancouver for only $2500 a month. There's much better urban planning in Vancouver too than in Surrey or Coquitlam which is basically chaos.