The nonresident foreigners own about 5.1 percent of the homes in Metro Vancouver and 7.6 percent of the value of all the homes in the Vancouver city. The foreigners interested to buy real estate in Metro Vancouver have to pay 15 percent tax.
Andrew Weaver, the Green Leader of B.C., has raised his concerns about the foreign purchases of residential real estates. He wanted a ban on this. But, Finance Minister, Carole James, is not looking at preventing the foreigners from buying homes in British Columbia.
James said that she has no intention of banning foreigners from buying residential real estate like what is practiced in New Zealand. The Green Leader, Andrew, wants Carole James to introduce a ban on foreigners buying the residential properties to reduce the demand. He wants her to introduce it in the forthcoming budget.
There were reports in September that 5 percent of homes in Metro Vancouver were bought by foreigners. The Richmond area saw about 10.8 percent of the homes bought by foreigners in September.
The British Columbia government is expecting to collect $1.54 billion this fiscal year (2017-18), $1.45 billion in the year 2018-19 and $1.43 billion in the fiscal year 2019-20.
