Chinese Interest in Vancouver Not Driven By High-End Sector

A recent report from one of the largest Chinese international property search sites, Juwai.com and Sotheby’s Canada discovered that majority of the searches by Chinese investors on Vancouver properties were on homes way below the average sale prices.

In Vancouver, Chinese buyers had been cited as the leading buyers of high-end properties but this claim seems to be far from true as they new study shows Chinese buyers actually search for homes in the lower end of the market.

The report indicates that in 2016, 57% of all Chinese investor searches were on properties worth less than $655,050 with the median figure of $590,020 while the average sale price in the city was at $897,600.

According to Sotheby’s report, Chinese buyers had always been seen as the culprit for purchasing high-end properties but new figure release disputes this claims.

Chinese investors were able to quickly adjust to the tax impose on foreign buyers by the British Columbia government in an effort to bring down home prices. There was an 81% year-over-year drop in Chinese searches on Vancouver property when the tax came into effect last year and was still down by 78% in August when the tax was being implemented.

Chinese interest shifted to other markets that are not under the tax such as Toronto which like Vancouver is one of Canada’s most expensive real estate markets. Interestingly, the largest Chinese search was experienced in Calgary with over 1050% searches in August and an additional 420% search in September.