Immigration wave drove booming canadian real estate market

Real estate marketing guru George Wong isn’t surprised by findings of an Urban Futures study last month that claimed that only 0.4 per cent of the roughly 55,000 homes sold in Greater Vancouver last year were purchased by foreign investors. The report, authored by economist Ryan Berlin, claimed that based on the addresses provided by purchasers, only 195 out of 55,512 home sales were to foreigners.

Wong, whose Magnum Properties has assisted with sales at Quintet on No. 3 Road and River Green next to the Richmond Olympic Oval, believes that a surge in immigration late last year and earlier this year—and not foreign investing—led to the property price boom. A large proportion of these immigrants have been very wealthy, scooping up new homes in which to establish their families, while buying investment properties as well, Wong said.

The number of buyers holding foreign citizenship has been low at his two high-profile projects, accounting for only about 55 of the 500 condos and townhouses sold. Wong said he doesn’t consider a landed immigrant to be a foreign, whether they are freshly minted or have been here for decades. And therein may lie the confusion.

Source: Richmond Review