Vancouver’s hot property market gets tougher for wealthy Chinese as foreign buyer tax is raised to 20pc
Foreign buyers, mainly from China, have been blamed for Vancouver’s red-hot property market, where the gap between home values and incomes has widened rapidly in the last five years
Vancouver, one of the hottest housing markets in North America, is getting a little tougher for wealthy Chinese buyers.
British Columbia Finance Minister Carole James announced measures targeting foreign buyers and speculators in the first budget since her government was elected on a pledge to make housing more affordable for residents of Canada’s Pacific Coast province.
Starting Wednesday, foreigners will pay the province a 20 per cent tax on top of the listing value, up from 15 per cent now, and a levy on property speculators will be introduced later this year, according to budget documents released Tuesday.
The tax echoes Hong Kong’s 15 per cent tax on residential property purchases by non-permanent-residents and corporations imposed in October 2012, a measure designed to stem a flood of mainland Chinese money into the city’s housing market.
The British Columbia government will also crack down on the condo pre-sale market and beneficial ownership to ensure that property flippers, offshore trusts and hidden investors are paying taxes on gains.
