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Abolishing the Foreign Buyers tax - Because its Working! Mass Exodus Ahead of Canadian Major cities

863 views · Published 30 January 2017 · 4:34 · Indexed 24 October 2026

Channel: Mike Martins · 2017 · News & Politics

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“The foreign buyers tax was implemented in July 2016 with an enormous amount of support from BC residents.” — Mike Martins

Mike Martins here with another update on the Vancouver housing crisis, and this one raises a lot of questions.

In this 2017 video, I'm discussing news that British Columbia planned to exempt certain people with work permits from the province's 15% additional property transfer tax on foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver.

The foreign buyers tax had only been introduced in July 2016, following enormous public concern over housing affordability and rapidly rising real estate prices. By early 2017, Vancouver had finally started seeing changes in sales activity and prices—and now the provincial government was announcing an exemption.

My biggest question in this video is simple: exactly who qualifies?

If someone has a work permit, do they have to prove they're actually working in British Columbia? Do they need employment records or pay stubs? How long do they have to work here? What happens if someone owns or opens a business? And how does all of this interact with Vancouver real estate prices that were already far beyond what many local residents could afford?

The story also discusses then-Premier Christy Clark's argument that people who live, work and pay taxes in British Columbia should not face the additional foreign-buyer property transfer tax.

I'm not claiming to have all the answers here. I'm looking at the announcement as it was being reported in 2017 and asking what the rules will actually mean once they're implemented.

Could this exemption bring another group of buyers into Metro Vancouver's housing market? Could it weaken the effect of the foreign buyers tax? Or will the eligibility requirements be narrow enough that it makes little difference?

This was another major development in the Vancouver housing story I had been following as it unfolded.

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