Four years ago, B.C.’s provincial government introduced a tax on foreign buyers that was designed to make housing more affordable for Metro Vancouver residents.
A tax of 15 per cent was levied on residential properties purchased by foreigners. Two years later, in 2018, the 15 per cent foreign buyer tax was changed to 20 per cent and, later that year, speculation and vacancy taxes were added by the provincial government, and the City of Vancouver introduced an empty-home tax.
All were directed at foreign buyers whose investments were making housing more costly to British Columbians.
A little over four years later, it’s interesting to re-visit the facts about affordability.
In the first two years of the foreign buyer tax, the benchmark price of condos went from $533,000 to $700,300, an increase of 26.9 per cent. Townhouse benchmark prices increased by 20.4 per cent and detached home prices fell by 1.2 per cent.
In the four-plus years since all the above taxes became part of the landscape, benchmark prices for condos dropped by 3.4 per cent, for townhouses increased by 0.8 per cent and for detached homes fell by 2.1 per cent.
A complete analysis of the foreign buyer tax impacts can be found in The Georgia Straight.