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Foreign Money Moves From Vancouver to SEATTLE — Housing Bubble Goes Global

1,238 views · Published 25 October 2016 · 26:58 · Indexed 22 September 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2016 · News & Politics

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YouTubers, welcome to a very special edition of Trends in the Housing Market. It's Monday, October 24, 2016—Halloween week—and today we're looking at housing stories from Vancouver, London, Australia, China, Seattle, Miami and across Canada.

This is exactly why I started doing Trends in the Housing Market. If you only watch Vancouver, you only see Vancouver. But when you start connecting stories from different cities around the world, you begin seeing a much larger housing picture.

We start with the UBS Global Real Estate Bubble Index, where Vancouver is being identified as having the greatest bubble risk among the cities examined, ahead of London. Sydney, Stockholm, Munich and Hong Kong are also raising concerns.

Then we're going Down Under. Australia's Treasurer Scott Morrison is talking about housing supply and the difficulty first-time buyers are having getting into the market. My question remains: if foreign investment isn't an important part of these markets, why did Vancouver's 15% foreign-buyer tax produce such an enormous reaction?

China gives us another incredible story: couples reportedly using divorce to circumvent property restrictions so they can continue purchasing real estate. Housing isn't simply being treated as shelter anymore—it's becoming a financial commodity.

Then comes Seattle.

Chinese buyer interest in Seattle is reportedly increasing following British Columbia's foreign-buyer tax, while searches for Vancouver properties are dropping. This supports something I've been warning about: capital doesn't necessarily disappear when one market puts up a barrier—it looks for somewhere else to go.

Back in Vancouver, we're seeing forecasts of a correction. And I'm predicting something beyond investors simply leaving: inheritances, retirements, divorces and deaths will continue creating legitimate sellers regardless of market conditions.

If buyers disappear while those sellers continue appearing, inventory starts stacking up.

That's where I see the potential domino effect beginning.

Then we have CMHC preparing its first red-level warning for Canada's housing market, looking at overheating, accelerating prices, overvaluation and overbuilding. I believe this is much bigger than a simple normalization.

Finally, Miami's luxury condo market is showing weakness, with falling prices, rising inventory and longer selling periods.

Different countries.

Different cities.

But increasingly similar stories.

That's why we're watching Trends in the Housing Market.

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