Manitoba Realtors Seem To Have An Answer For Toronto And Vancouver Foreign Home Buyers
Chris Pennycook, president of the Manitoba Real Estate Association, stated that he is now prepared to receive immigrants and more foreign investors.
“We will not shy away nor will we discourage investors. We are a very diverse community and we encourage trade and most especially with foreign buyers.” Stated Pennycook.
Pennycook’s drive to offer foreign buyers a choice came as a result of the unceasing housing problems faced by Ontario and the great city of Toronto.
Charles Sousa, Ontario’s finance minister, who enacted a 15% non-resident speculation tax in April on buyers in the greater Golden Horseshoe, stated last Tuesday that he is not fascinated with the data sent to him. However, he purported that he did not see the percentage of foreign buyers declining.
The Toronto Real Estate Board said this month sales were off by 20.3% in May from a year ago, whilst average prices deteriorated 6.2% from April.
“British Columbia became the first to levy a foreign tax in August 2016. Nonetheless, its 15% additional land transfer tax on foreign home buyers in Greater Vancouver at the outset slowed the market. May statistics showed prices and sales are both recovering”, states the Financial Post.
Pennycook said that Manitoba does not record the same sales percentage as that of Vancouver and Toronto but rather sees great prospects in the foreign investors. “They look at price and we are a great alternative”, he said.
The median prices in sold homes in Winnipeg were $302,983 in April, which compares with $1,056,136 in Greater Vancouver and $920,791 in Toronto for the same month. “Our association feels very confident about the north-south trading barriers and as realtors we envisage that the more trade there is, the housing market will improve and more growth in Manitoba will be realized.”
According to the post, Manitoba had spent a year trying to set put on course this proposition in place. The association had arranged for a conference outside the United States. The conference was explicitly organized to expand the trade and real estate activity between the United States and Canada. It was attended by delegates from Arizona, California, Florida, Minnesota, Ontario, Texas, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Illinois, New York, and Prince Edward Island attended.
“We have a high level of president and chief executives present here for the course, which is designed to allow realtors to be recognized throughout the world as having expertise in different currencies, different cultures plus an ability to deal with different ethnicity. It is a very in-depth course which aims to give a better understanding of all the different cultures throughout the world,” said Pennycook.
J C Loum
