New data released from the B.C. Government shows foreign buyers purchased five per cent of Metro Vancouver homes over a 19-day period in June.
In the entire province, 3.3 per cent of all purchases involved foreign nationals.
READ MORE: Housing market information from the B.C. Government
The B.C. Government looked at data from June 10 to 29, 2016, to track the extent of foreign real estate transactions. While this is a short time period, the government says this is a “first, early look at the rate and value of purchases of residential property by foreign nationals – people who are neither Canadian citizens nor permanent residents.”
Here is a summary of the main findings:
In B.C. – There were 10,148 residential real estate transactions, totalling more than $7.6 billion. Three hundred and thirty seven transactions, 3.3 per cent, worth $390 million (5.1 per cent) involved foreign nationals.
In Metro Vancouver – There were 5,118 transactions, totalling nearly $5.4 billion, of which 260 involved foreign nationals (5.1 per cent), worth $351 million.
In the City of Vancouver – There were 1,139 transactions, totallying more than $1.6 billion, of which 47 involved foreign nationals (4.1 per cent), worth $64 million.
In Richmond – There were 392 transactions, totallying more than $371 million, of which 56 involved foreign nationals (14 per cent), worth 61.5 million.
READ MORE: Vancouver’s housing market ‘doesn’t have any good outcomes’: PM Trudeau
The data comes from the Property Transfer Tax forms that are filled out when people purchase real estate in B.C. and they are asked if they are a Canadian Citizen or permanent resident.
“From the period we’ve studied, it appears that foreign nationals are purchasing at higher values than the average Canadian citizen,” said Finance Minister Mike de Jong. “For all of the pressure that exists in the purchasing market and in the rental market, there is a vast number of housing projects on the books that if they were approved, would begin to ease considerably some of that pressure.”
The province has also been tracking the number of new housing units in development in Burnaby, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Richmond, Surrey and Vancouver.
According to publicly available information, approximately 108,000 units are in the planning stage, waiting for re-zoning or pending construction.
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