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More proof the foreign buyers tax is impacting home sales

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VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – New numbers from the provincial government show a slight uptick in the number of foreign buyer real estate purchases in BC between September and October. Victoria says the buyers were involved in three per cent of residential real estate sales in Metro Vancouver last month, a rate it claims, is equal to the provincial average for that month.

In total, about 140 residential property transfers valued at $115 million involved foreign nationals in October, from a total of about 4,700 transfers valued at $3.6 billion. The three per cent rate of foreign purchase is higher than September’s 1.8 per cent rate, but still much lower than the 13.2 per cent rate of foreign investment seen in Metro Vancouver before the government implemented a 15 per cent levy in August.

In Vancouver 2.5 per cent of transactions involved foreign nationals, while in Surrey it was about one per cent. Richmond saw a small, month-over-month increase with foreign buyers linked to 6.7 per cent of all residential transactions.

Across the rest of the province, foreign nationals were said to be involved in 189 residential property transactions, representing about 2.9 per cent of all sales. Transactions involving foreign buyers in the rest of the province totalled $129 million.

The government says between August 2nd and November 14th, 431 additional property transfer tax returns were filed, totalling $36 million. The ministry has opened a total of 215 audit files to investigate whether the correct amount of tax has been paid and issued 30 assessments totalling $3 million.

The provincial government is keeping a close eye on the Capital Region too, where the tax was not implemented. Numbers show foreign buyer sales seem to be growing in Victoria.

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