Foreign purchasers were involved in 3% of Metro Vancouver residential real estate transactions in October, a rate equal to the provincial average for that month, according to the latest real estate transaction data released by the Province today.

About 140 residential property transfers valued at $115 million involved foreign nationals in Metro Vancouver during October, from a total of about 4,700 transfers valued at $3.6 billion. The 3% rate of foreign purchase is higher than September's 1.8% rate, but still significantly below the 13.2% rate of foreign investment seen in Metro Vancouver before the Province implemented the additional property transfer tax.

In the rest of the province, foreign nationals were involved in 189 residential property transactions, representing about 2.9% of all transactions. Transactions involving foreign nationals in the rest of the province totalled $129 million.

Other statistics include:

• In Vancouver, about 2.5% of transactions involved foreign nationals, representing about 2.8% of the value.
• In Surrey, about 1% of all residential transactions involved foreign nationals in October, compared to about 1% in September. In both months, investment from foreign nationals represented about 1% of the total value of all transactions.
• Richmond saw a small, month-over-month increase in the rate and volume of foreign investment. Foreign nationals were involved in 6.7% of all residential transactions, representing 7.2% of the total value.
• Burnaby saw about 5.9% of transactions (18 of 307) involving foreign nationals in October, representing 4.5% of the value of all transactions.
• The Capital Regional District, where the additional property transfer tax does not apply, saw about 6.3% of transactions (55 out of 879), representing 10.3% of the value of all transactions. Government continues to monitor this data closely.

There is a period of distortion in the market any time a tax is introduced or changed. Many transactions that would have occurred in the months following the introduction of the tax were moved to July to avoid the tax. As time goes on and the market readjusts, trends such as the rate and volume of foreign demand will normalize to levels we can expect to continue. 

The Province will begin releasing more detailed statistical information about property transactions on a monthly basis through DataBC. This data has been prepared in consultation with the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner and BC Stats to ensure it complies with privacy requirements. View the data at: https://catalogue.data.gov.bc.ca/dataset/9c9b8d35-d59b-436a-a350-f581ea71a798

All property transfer transactions are subject to audit and all additional property transfer tax returns will be reviewed and verified. The audit period is six years from the date the transfer is registered at the Land Title Office.

From Aug. 2 to Nov. 14, 2016, 431 additional property transfer tax returns were filed, totalling $36 million. The ministry has opened 215 audit files to investigate whether the correct amount of tax has been paid and issued 30 assessments totalling $3 million.

More information:

Property transfer tax data to Oct. 31, 2016: https://news.gov.bc.ca/files/Property_Transfer_Tax_Report_Jun_10_to_Oct_31_2016.pdf