Housing Markets: Metro Vancouver and Purchasers

housing markets: The province brought in the 15-per-cent property transfer tax on foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver on Aug. 2 in an effort to cool one of the hottest housing markets in North America."The number of offshore purchasers has dropped dramatically, and that means the pressure on local purchasers, often first-time purchasers, is much reduced," said cabinet minister Andrew Wilkinson, speaking on behalf of the finance minister on Friday."That exactly what our goal was and we're glad to see the market is calming down."Between Aug. 2 and Sept. 30, there were 152 home purchases involving foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver, or 1.3 per cent of all residential transactions, according to Vancouver Observer. That is slightly less than the provincial average of 1.7 per cent during the same period. The drop is dramatic compared with the seven-week period before the tax was introduced when foreign buyers accounted for 13.2 per cent of the residential purchases in the region. The province received an additional $10.1 million from the new tax. The goal was to calm down the real estate market."But the province cautioned that it unclear how many transactions that would have occurred in August or September were rushed through completion in July in order to avoid the tax. Wilkinson said the goal of the levy was not to collect more taxes from offshore investors, but to get them to reconsider buying into Metro Vancouver market."It was never our goal to get to a certain revenue amount with the tax. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.