Vancouver market rebounding

FOREIGN BUYERS

economic growth,” said Cameron Muir, chief economist with BCREA. “Strong employment growth, consumer confidence and an influx of inter-provincial migrants are important drivers of the housing market this year.”

The board said millennials entering their household forming years are putting pressure on supply in the condo sector. “The decline in the provincial average price is largely due to rising demand for more affordable condominiums and a larger proportion of home sales occurring outside the Metro Vancouver region,” the group said in a release.

Initial data last year may have missed the mark on the impact of the foreign tax because so many sales were pushed forward to avoid the tax. The tax was announced on July 25 but not implemented for a week.

“It turned out that the impact of the tax was much more immediate than in our simulation. Total Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver sales fell 19 per cent in August 2016 compared to our projection of just eight per cent,” the BCREA said in its report.

“Since then, sales have evolved broadly as expected. Other than a weather-induced blip in January, home sales have been on an upswing and are where we would have expected them to have been at this point, without the tax.”

The B.C. data is being followed closely in Ontario, which instituted a 15 per cent non-resident speculation tax on April 20 for homes in Greater Golden Horseshoe and since then has seen sales drop 20.3 per cent in May from a year ago in Greater Toronto, while average prices fell 6.2 per cent in one month — partially do to a drop in high-end home sales.