37 Percent Increase In Montreal Foreign Home Buying Along With Chinese Interest

Canada’s federal housing agency says that the number of foreign buyers in the Montreal area surged by 37 per cent in the first four months of the year.

From January to April, the 236 purchases by foreigners accounted for 1.8 per cent of all real estate transactions, as said in a report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

That’s up from 172 deals representing 1.3 per cent of total sales a year earlier during the same period.

Comparing with the Vancouver area, home purchases by foreign buyers has hovered around three to four per cent of all transactions since the introduction of a 15 per cent tax last August. In the Toronto area, about five per cent of transactions were made by foreigners before a tax was added in April.

Chinese buyers accounted for the strongest growth in Montreal, representing 17 per cent of all foreign buyers, up from less than 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.

Since the adoption of the Vancouver tax, the number of buyers from China tripled, while the number of French and American buyers increased by about 33 per cent.

Foreign buyers first choice are condominiums, but 40 per cent of Chinese buyers selected single-family homes.

The median price they paid for these homes was about $720000 while 25 per cent exceeded $1 million, far greater than prices paid by American and French buyers.