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Someone in Burnaby won buy-an-actual-house-in-ritzy-Vancouver money in 649

The big-but-not-actually-funny joke about the Metro Vancouver housing crisis is that winning a million dollars isn’t what it used to be.
649
SCREENSHOT

The big-but-not-actually-funny joke about the Metro Vancouver housing crisis is that winning a million dollars isn’t what it used to be.

You’d technically be a “millionaire” but would have to settle for a one-bedroom condo in Surrey, with a little money left over for furniture.

The $5 million jackpot in Saturday night's Lotto 649 draw was won by a ticket holder in Burnaby, and that actually means more than it has recently. You can see the numbers here.

Prices have been dropping for detached houses in Vancouver so you could actually buy one in the big city and have some money left over.

It might not be much money left over, but it’s something.

You could buy a piece-of-garbage detached house in Vancouver for close to $2 million and then have a lot left over. I’ve attached a screenshot of an old, rickety house on the west side of Vancouver that’s selling for a ridiculous $1.7 million.

lottery
This is what $1.7 million gets you in Vancouver. SCREENSHOT

It’s a dump, but it’s on the west side so score!

Of course, you’d have to spend most of the rest of your fortune making the house liveable, but that’s life in Vancouver. There is an HGTV show called My Lottery Dream Home in which the host helps people spend their lottery winnings. I'd like to see them do an episode in Vancouver to show how tough it is to buy a "dream home" in the city and still have money left over.

The draw's guaranteed $1 million prize went to a lottery player in Ontario.

The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on Feb. 26 will again be approximately $5 million, so keep those housing dreams alive, everyone.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.