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Chinese Home Buyers FLEE Vancouver Luxury Real Estate — 95% DROP After Foreign Buyer Tax!

920 views · Published 8 January 2017 · 10:55 · Indexed 19 October 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2017 · News & Politics

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I'm outside in the Vancouver cold again, and we're continuing to follow what is becoming one of the biggest stories in Canada: the housing market and the effect of British Columbia's 15% foreign buyer tax.

The latest numbers being reported are dramatic.

According to the article I'm discussing from January 7, 2017, foreign buyers accounted for 4.1% of Metro Vancouver residential transactions in November, up from 3% in October—but still dramatically below activity recorded before the foreign buyer tax took effect.

The luxury end of the market is especially interesting.

According to the figures discussed in the video, only eight properties valued over $3 million were purchased by foreign nationals in November, representing a reported 95% decline compared with July. Meanwhile, foreign purchasers appear to be shifting toward properties priced below $1 million.

This raises a much bigger question:

Is government intervention actually changing Vancouver's housing market?

We're now dealing with several measures at the same time—the 15% foreign buyer tax, tougher federal mortgage qualification rules and Vancouver's vacant-home measures. That makes it difficult to determine exactly which policy is responsible for which part of the slowdown.

There's another important limitation: British Columbia only recently began collecting detailed information on foreign purchasers. That means we don't have years of comparable historical data yet.

But something has clearly changed in the numbers being discussed.

The foreign buyer tax is also generating substantial government revenue. According to the article, the province collected more than $49 million during the first four months, with approximately $24 million collected in November alone.

I'm also making a prediction in this video.

Could somebody running for provincial office eventually campaign on scrapping or changing the foreign buyer tax? I'm not saying that's definitely going to happen. I'm watching the political patterns and wondering whether housing policy becomes an election issue.

Vancouver isn't alone either. Housing affordability is becoming a major discussion in Australia, New Zealand, parts of Ireland and expensive American technology centres.

We're going to continue following the numbers throughout 2017.

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