Foreign buyer tax not responsible for housing sale drop: FVREB
Posted September 2, 2016 12:39 pm.
Last Updated September 2, 2016 12:41 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Detached home sales in August in the Fraser Valley also fell, but the real estate board isn’t drawing the same conclusions as its Greater Vancouver counterpart. The board’s president can’t see a link to the new foreign buyer’s tax at all.
The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board is responsible for sales in Surrey, Delta, Langley, Abbotsford and Mission. It recorded 1,694 sales of all types this August, compared to 1,734. That’s a 2.3% drop.
There’s more of a change in the single family, detached home market, with a 29% drop in year over year says. Sales of this type in August dropped by about 23-per cent compared to July. The benchmark price for the detached home sits at about $888,600.
Board President Charles Wiebe isn’t seeing the foreign buyer’s tax affecting sales. There were worries foreign buyers would drive sales in the eastern parts of the Valley as they attempt to avoid the new 15-per cent levy. Surrey, Delta and Langley are in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, so home sold there are covered by the tax, while Abbotsford and Mission are not.
Sales have dropped in the region, but Wiebe says July and August are typically slow for sales. “When we look at the ten-year average for sales in July and August, this August… has proved to be still higher in sales than what our ten-year average is. But not greatly higher.”
The townhome-apartment market has fared better accord to Wiebe. “The condo market, in the sales, has actually gone up a fair bit than what we’ve seen in the past ten years. So, our condo market in the Fraser Valley has certainly gone up quite significantly.”
Townhome sales increased by 11-per cent year over year while apartment sales jumped by 74-per cent in the same time frame. The benchmark price for a townhome in the region is $418,400, while the benchmark price for an apartment is $248,800.
