Latitude: N 49º 16’ 36” / Longitude: W 123º 07’ 15”.Vancouver is the eighth largest city in Canada with a population of 578,000 (2006 census) and has one of the mildest climates in Canada with temperatures averaging around 3 degrees celsius in January and 18 degrees celsius in July. It covers 114.7 sq km (44.3 sq miles), and is part of Metro Vancouver, the third largest metropolitan area in Canada, with a population of 2.1 million (2006 census). The percentage of Vancouver residents whose first language is English is 49.1 per cent and Chinese is 25.3 per cent.

 

Vancouver has Canada's largest and most diversified port, trading $75 billion in goods annually. It is home to a variety of different industries, including the mining, forest, biotech, film and software industries. Vancouver's unemployment rate is 6 per cent and it median household income (2006) is $47,299.

 

For more information or statistics, please visit below "Understanding Vancouver" page.

 

The West Side has some of the most expensive housing in the Greater Vancouver region.The West Side contains different types of housing ranging from small bungalows, through condominium complexes to multimillion-dollar waterfront estates. Older "character" houses are popular on the West Side and you can expect to pay a lot for them.

Although much of the housing is single family housing, several neighbourhoods such as Downtown, the West End, False Creek and Fairview Slopes have primarily apartments and townhouse developments.

 

The East Side housing prices are lower then in adjacent Vancouver West neighbourhoods, making it popular with professionals who want to be close to downtown but can't afford the higher West Side prices.

Older "character" houses can be found throughout the area, especially in the neighbourhoods of Mount Pleasant, Main, Fraser, Commercial Drive, East Hastings and Strathcona.