I've heard from friends who live in the city that Coal Harbor is dark at night with most of the towers at least 70% unoccupied - you can tell from the lights. There are some university profs who are looking at the issue through BC Hydro rates but the city and real estate organizations don't have any willingness to enact serious reform. They have waited too long to act, imagine if housing/condo prices in Vancouver fell 25%, they would still be overpriced and thousands of new homeowners who took out fat low-interest mortgages would be underwater. Vancouver's growth industries are high-end shopping and other service-oriented industries to support wealthy part-time residents.