The Conference Board: Centre For Municipal Studies

Chinese Economy Dept: Robin Wiebe, a senior economist with the Centre for Municipal Studies in Ottawa, offers the assessment in a column published by the Conference Board, warning that expectations of a slowing Chinese economy could be considered as big a drag on the Vancouver housing market going forward as anything else, including the city s notoriously poor affordability, according to Vancouver Sun. There is a clear correlation between Chinese immigration and real estate activity in Vancouver, Wiebe said in his column. In fact, the Chinese immigration peak of 2005 was matched by a peak in existing home sales in that same year. The 42,000 resale transactions that year were nearly 50 per cent above the previous decade s average and remain a record high for this market and a new commentary by the Conference Board of Canada is reigniting a debate over just how much influence China s economy has over Metro Vancouver s housing market. Wiebe s view is that Vancouver s housing market has historically followed Chinese growth, with the accelerating Chinese economy over the past decade accompanied by surging Vancouver price increases. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.