Foreign ownership has become a contentious issue in the Lower Mainland with skyrocketing real estate prices. The number of Chinese people buying homes in Canada is not just growing here, but across the country.

 

Recent numbers from the National Bank found Chinese buyers accounted for 33 per cent of home sales in the Lower Mainland last year.

 

But Charlie Gillis from Maclean’s Magazine says Toronto is catching up when it comes to housing interest from Mainland China. “In fact there is more interest on the part of people in China in terms of just searching properties in Toronto than there is in Vancouver. Also, they are searching other places; Ottawa comes up number four on that list.”

 

Gillis believes the low loonie has played a big role in driving foreign buyers our way. “I think that it has more to do with what is going on in Mainland China and there is volatility all kinds of markets there not least their real estate market I think. The city of Shenzhen which is one of their leading cities saw a 60 per cent jump last year in home prices alone.”

 

He adds Chinese buyers see Vancouver not as a bubble market, but as a stable investment that will be a safe investment over the long haul.

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