housing
PULLING DEMAND FORWARD
Surprise! [said sarcastically] The share of foreign home buyers in Metro Vancouver rose in the last 6 months of 2022 in anticipation of the impending foreign buyer ban.
The federal government passed the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act AKA the foreign buyer ban on June 23, 2022. And while much has been noted about how few residential property transactions involve foreign buyers, along with the many noted exceptions to the ban, there are still some would-be buyers who are banned from purchasing in 2023. And with six months of lag time between the passage of the bill and its implementation, there was a window of opportunity for those subject to the ban to act.
Sure enough, we can see a sharp increase in the share of foreign buyer residential transactions in the second half of 2022, from 0.9% in June to 2.8% in December. We should note here that these are buyers subject to BC’s foreign buyer tax, and may include some buyers exempted from the ban, such as international students. Overall, the share of foreign buyers participating in Metro Vancouver’s residential real estate market was still quite low in the second half of 2022, but the increase that preceded the implementation of the ban is evident.
BUYER SHIFTS AS THE DRAWBRIDGE LIFTS
6%
received Royal Assent FEDERAL FOREIGN BUYER BAN
5.2%
5%
4.1%
4%
3%
2.8%
2.8%
2%
1.6%
1%
0.9%
0%
% OF RESIDENTIAL TRANSACTIONS WITH FOREIGN INVOLVEMENT
DATA: MONTHLY, METRO VANCOUVER
SOURCE: BC GOVERNMENT PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX DATABASE
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