If you were of the belief that the slice of foreign ownership in the real estate pie was bigger than the numbers announced by the provincial government earlier this month, new stats would suggest you were right.
On Tuesday, the province released a new set of real estate data, this time from June 10 to July 14, which shows a larger amount of foreign purchasers in the region, including Burnaby.
A total of 117 transactions, or 18 per cent, of real estate property transfers in Burnaby involved foreign nationals. The transactions amounted to $81.2 million, or 15 per cent of the total investment made during the time period in the city.
The stats show Burnaby trails Richmond as the busiest place for real estate foreign investment in the province.
Richmond was also at 18 per cent for the number of transactions but came in at 19 per cent for the total investment in dollar amounts.
The provincial rate shows 6.6 per cent of transactions involved foreign nationals, with Metro Vancouver at 10 per cent.
The numbers look far different than the first set of data from June released by the province at the beginning of July.
Between June 10 and June 29, 10.9 per cent of real estate transactions in Burnaby during that time period were made by foreign nationals.
That figure worked out to $31.4 million, or 10 per cent of the total investment made in real estate in Burnaby during the 20-day period.
Burnaby councillor Paul McDonell believes foreign ownership is fuelling the market in the city, suggesting the province was playing with numbers in the first release.
“There’s a problem, the rich people are forcing the middle class out of it (the market),” he told the NOW.
This week, the province also announced an additional property transfer tax rate of 15 per cent in Metro Vancouver to purchasers of residential real estate who are foreign nationals or foreign-controlled corporations.
McDonell called the tax a “good first step” but added if people are bringing money in and parking it for a safe haven, they’ll find a way not to pay it.
“If people want to do something and they’re not straight shooters across the board, they’ll figure a way around it in a very short time,” he said.
