Adding extra fees to foreigners buying real estate likely wouldn’t ease interest: economist

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Hitting foreign property buyers with extra fees likely wouldn’t put them off coming to Vancouver, according to a local economist.

This comes as Australia introduces fees with the intention of protecting locals, including slapping foreign buyers with an additional $5,000 charge for the first million dollars a home is worth.

Cameron Muir is the chief economist with the BC Real Estate Association and says it likely wouldn’t make a big difference here.

“I know the Australian example where their tax is going to end up around one per cent per million dollars,” says Muir. “It’s unlikely to have a significant impact, or I would suggest any impact on wealthy buyers.”

“Having $10,000 charged per million dollars of home bought is unlikely to phase those who are the uber rich who are buying luxury real estate in desirable locations around the world,”

Muir says on a numbers level, data from Statistics Canada data doesn’t indicate a significantly higher level of foreign ownership in Vancouver compared with the rest of Canada.

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