The Hongcouver | Bogus ‘analysis’ obscures the role of foreign money in Vancouver’s runaway housing market

BC’s government is relying on flawed data provided by the real estate industry

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The recent C$51.8 million purchase of this palatial Point Grey mansion by Chinese tycoon Chen Mailin would escape designation as foreign ownership under the BC Real Estate Association's definitions. Photo: SCMP Picture

Published: 5:45am, 10 Jun 2015Updated: 11:49am, 23 Feb 2016

If there’s one thing that should unite both sides of Vancouver’s debate about housing affordability and the role of foreign money in the real estate market, it’s the need for more data.

But apparently not everyone agrees. British Columbia’s housing minister, Rich Coleman, dismissed the idea of even tracking foreign ownership (let alone curtailing it) when it was raised in the provincial legislature last month. Housing prices in BC’s lower mainland were “pretty reasonable”, he helpfully added. Jaws were dropped. Eyebrows were raised.

Coleman’s boss, Premier Christy Clark, then weighed in. In a June 4 letter to Vancouver’s Mayor Gregor Robertson, in which she hosed down his requests for a speculation tax, Clark cited a new BC Ministry of Finance analysis on foreign ownership.

That analysis, in turn, cited estimates that “foreign buyers” likely make up “less than 5 per cent of home sales activity in Greater Vancouver”.

If there’s a shortage of data, where did this swift and comforting estimate come from?

As usual in Vancouver, all roads lead to the real estate industry.

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