Top-quality schools attracting Chinese homebuyers to Kirkland
Since the introduction of foreign buyer taxes in Vancouver and Toronto in 2016, Montreal has seen a big increase in interest from house hunters from overseas — particularly China.
For some of these buyers, the purchase of a property in Canada is part of a long-term plan to immigrate and make a new life here. Others are buying second or third homes here. And some are looking for an income property or a long-term investment in Canadian real estate.
But for many of those who choose the West Island, realtors say one of the biggest motivations is to send their children to learn English and/or French at top-quality Canadian schools.
It’s something Sophie Ou, a broker who works with Mandarinand Cantonese-speaking buyers, hears often from clients shopping in Kirkland. She said Kirkland’s public and private schools have gained a reputation for excellence in China.
“We know what type of house the Chinese like,” Ou said. “They want newer construction, a good area, with good schools — that’s very important. Many want to send the kids to good schools and it’s for them they move here.”
Like many other realtors I’ve spoken to recently, Ou said in certain West Island neighbourhoods, when an offer comes in on a single-family home, the buyer is now more likely than not to be Chinese.
To try to quantify just how big the Chinese clientele was in Kirkland, Ou began compiling her own statistics on Chinese buyers using transaction data from jlr.ca, one of the largest real estate databases in Canada.
Ou combed through the complete list of sales in Kirkland, both private sales and those using a broker, looking for Chinese names. She found about 40 per cent of all sales in Kirkland involved these buyers. But Ou noted that buyers coming from overseas are much more likely to use a broker than negotiate a private sale. When she excluded private sales from her data set, she found 75 per cent to 90 per cent of sales over the past three years were to Chinese buyers.
Kirkland Mayor Michel Gibson has also noticed that more Chinese buyers are choosing to settle in Kirkland, but he noted they’re not all recent immigrants. Many are also coming to Kirkland from Toronto or other parts of Canada, he said.
“Some houses are selling in five to 10 days, with multiple offers. It’s a sign of big demand,” Gibson said. “Often they’ll be asking not only for the house, but in some cases also the furniture.”
In the 2016 census, eight per cent of Kirkland residents stated that their ethnic origin was Chinese. In Canada it was five per cent, and in Montreal, three per cent.
Gibson said Kirkland’s public and private schools have an excellent reputation, and noted the REM line coming to Kirkland will soon allow teens and young adults to travel easily to Montreal universities as well.
“Like any parents you’re looking at planning the future for your kids,” he said.