Professor Nathan Lauster says Vancouver’s China-money fears mirror Nazism. He just made millions selling home to China-money lobbyists

UBC academic Nathan Lauster says the role of Chinese money is exaggerated and a ‘moral panic’, testifying in lawsuit aiming to axe Vancouver’s foreign buyer tax

But at the same time, he was selling his home for C$3million (US$2.3 million), more than double its valuation, to two of the city’s top China-money lobbyists

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UBC professor Nathan Lauster (left) sold his Vancouver home for more than C$3 million to a company directed by Chen Yongtao (right), seen entering a fundraiser for the Vancouver 1st political party last year, where he was a guest of honour. Over Chen's shoulder is fellow company director Pan Miaofei. Photos: Twitter/668tuan.com

Published: 5:15am, 10 Jan 2019Updated: 2:56am, 13 Apr 2019

Godwin’s Law, as anyone remotely familiar with social media should know, posits the shift towards certainty that a comparison to Hitler or Nazism will be made, the longer any online discussion proceeds.

It’s usually a gambit of last resort. But Nathan Lauster – a professor in sociology at the University of British Columbia – went there with little prodding.

Focusing on the role of foreign money in Vancouver’s unaffordable real estate market “mirrors how you move from ‘socialism’ to ‘national socialism’”, he said on Twitter in November.

Lauster is no anonymous troll.

The site of the former VR120 strata plan in Vancouver's Arbutus Ridge. The site was sold for C$160 million (US$121 million), double the valuation, to a company directed by Pan Miaofei and Chen Yongtao last year. Photo: Collier's International

The author of the 2016 book The Death and Life of the Single-Family House, he has been an influential and dismissive voice when it comes to the role of Chinese money in Vancouver’s real estate unaffordability crisis.

Instead of the “exaggerated” role of Chinese investors, Lauster believes Vancouver should be worrying about single family homes, which he calls “invasive parasites”. It’s a well-liked position by the development industry and supply-side circles.

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