Sister act: Fake Chinese buyers distract from reality of Vancouver’s housing market
The Real Estate Council of British Columbia has handed down a modest punishment for the use of fake Chinese buyers to drum up sales for a Vancouver housing development.
One of the sorrier sagas involving Vancouver’s obsession with the housing market has drawn to a close, with the Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC) handing down a modest punishment for last year’s use of fake Chinese buyers to drum up sales of a condo development.
Savvy consumers might be used to keeping an eye out for Chinese fakes - but fake Chinese?
The story dates back to February 9 last year, when two young women were introduced to reporters as Chinese sisters “Chris and Amanda Lee” who were supposedly checking out an apartment in the downtown Maddox development for their mainland parents to buy. The pair subsequently featured on two TV news reports, which used them as case studies for the proposition that Vancouver real estate could expect a boost from Chinese investors who supposedly favoured the Lunar New Year period as an auspicious time to buy.
The trouble was that Chris and Amanda Lee weren’t sisters, weren’t from China, and weren’t looking for an apartment to buy.
In fact, the pair were local employees of MAC Marketing Solutions, which was selling the Maddox project. MAC executive Nicolas Hans Jensen quit after the scam was revealed by the anonymous real estate blogger, the Rainforest Whisperer.