Foreign Real Estate Investment Continues To Rise In Canada

Recent data has emerged citing that British Columbia is the latest province to experience a huge wave of foreign real estate investment.

Earlier reports have shown how foreign investment in Canada’s real estate has peaked in recent times, with countries like China leading the helm in the flow of investment.

In a country ridden with pollution concerns, some Chinese migrants have moved to Canada, with a reported 100,000 of a total of over 3,000,000 Chinese millionaires moving to Vancouver alone. Cities that have experienced an influx of migrants have also seen hikes in housing demand which in turn has triggered higher house sales and a race to increase housing supply.

Much of the supply concerns have also seen a large flow of foreign investment in its wake. Huge sums have been put forth by foreigners to build more residential towers in Toronto in order to accommodate both the city and the country’s rising population. Other foreign investors in Canada’s housing estate include India and the United Kingdom.

The government of British Columbia has recently revealed information stating that 5% of house purchases made in the province have been carried out by foreigners. What makes this statistic so incredible is that all purchases were made within the span of only three weeks. This has proven to be yet another contemporary example of how much activity in Canada’s real estate market has intensified over the past year.

The government’s information was gathered from Property Transfer Forms required as proof of all completed property transactions. The study was able to reveal that up to 3.3% of purchases were done by foreigners amounting to $390 million of the total $7.6 billion gathered in revenue. The same report disclosed that up to 10,148 lots were sold in the province.

Statistics gathered in the Metro Vancouver area has also portrayed significant foreign activity in the real estate market. Foreigners amounted up to 260 of the overall 5,118 transactions carried out in the vicinity, equalling $351 million of the total $5.4 billion made in revenue.