That's a loaded question my friend. They will be dictated by interest rates and unemployment figures, and trying to predict the latter right now is a difficult task.

My guess would be in 5 we'll see declines, moderation and then on the tail end close to historical average price increases.

Ho can you ask where anything will be in 20 years?
Short of Armageddon it is almost a certainty that prices will be significantly higher in 20 years.
5 years it is likely they will be higher, but not anything crazy/

The reason I ask is .... There are many areas of Vancouver's Westside where single family homes (previous very middle class neighborhoods) average over $2M for 33' x 122' properties. In fact if you would like to live near The University of BC you'll find average homes cost $5,200,000 .... http://www.vancouver-westside-real-estate.com/university.asp
With Vancouver's household incomes at about $70k, seems like a good question to ask?

Gord when you say "previously middle classed neighbourhoods," how long ago are you talking? There are high demand pockets of Vancouver that will never align with average household incomes, even in the most depressed market conditions

Brent said:
Gord when you say "previously middle classed neighbourhoods," how long ago are you talking? There are high demand pockets of Vancouver that will never align with average household incomes, even in the most depressed market conditions

15 years ago many of these Westside areas in Vancouver were middle class neighborhoods - Dunbar, West Point Grey, etc.... Today the average SFH prices in these areas are butting on $3M. In fact in the past few months there have been 7 homes that sold for more than $10M
Perhaps my question now should morph into .... Are these numbers sustainable?
Even if you take out the higher demand pockets and take all of the Westside of Vancouver as one major grouping (really half of the City of Vancouver proper ... the SFH average price is still over $2.4M.
Taking those number as an average - to buy into the market you would need $480,000 cash as a traditional 20% down payment - and... You would need to qualify (and to pay for!) for a mortgage of $1,920,000 ! Wow! Glad I bought into the market years ago...

Gord said:
The reason I ask is .... There are many areas of Vancouver's Westside where single family homes (previous very middle class neighborhoods) average over $2M for 33' x 122' properties. In fact if you would like to live near The University of BC you'll find average homes cost $5,200,000 .... http://www.vancouver-westside-real-estate.com/university.asp
With Vancouver's household incomes at about $70k, seems like a good question to ask?

But it is basic supply and demand: they have no land, and a growing population. Prices will go up. Look at Manhattan.
Average family income has nothing to do with it, they are not the ones purchasing these.