Pedentically, I don't think the article is talking about a mild (and likely fairly constant) premium on real estate due to the superior weather, more likely it was about the parabolic price increases in the last decade or so. If mainland were Chinese particularly fond of Vancouver style weather it may be important over and above the natural one time premium it provides.

But mainly, I mostly just get irked when people dismiss RE price action in Vancouver because the weather is nice, it is a pretty common technique for those looking for racism.