A lead analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) made a startling admission to a developer-packed conference in 麻豆传媒映画May 25 regarding the impact of foreign capital on the Metro residential market.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know,鈥� Eric Bond, CMHC market analysis principal, told the Greater 麻豆传媒映画Board of Trade鈥檚 Housing Forum 2018, despite an intense focus on the role of foreign buyers in the Metro housing market by Statistics Canada and B.C.鈥檚 Ministry of Finance over the past two years.
鈥淲e do not know, concretely, what the impact of foreign capital has been on the 麻豆传媒映画housing market,鈥� Bond said. 鈥淎nyone claiming otherwise, whether they are claiming it is a big deal or not a big deal, is stating an opinion [because] we do not currently have the data to answer that question.鈥�
Bond, a key member of a forum panel on the impact of foreign investment, added that foreign capital flows into real estate in Canada 鈥渁re not tracked and until we have data on that and where it is going, it is very difficult to determine鈥� its impact.
Bond repeated CMHC鈥檚 controversial 2017 finding that only 4.8 per cent of Metro 麻豆传媒映画homes were owned by foreign nationals, but he added that number might be rising quickly, especially in the condominium market.
Since 2016, the share of new condominiums pre-sold to foreign buyers has reached 19 per cent in 麻豆传媒映画and accounts for 24 per cent of all buyers in Richmond and 23 per cent in Coquitlam, Bond said.
If Bond had walked the floor at the forum he might have garnered an idea of the scope and impact of foreign capital flowing into Metro Vancouver鈥檚 residential market.
Two 麻豆传媒映画development companies, Aoyuan Property Group of Hong Kong and Landa Global Properties Ltd., which has mainland Chinese funding, are among the foreign capital conduits, according to Mehdi Shokri, an investment principal with Avison Young of Vancouver.
Landa has bought residential development sites in East Vancouver, on the west side of 麻豆传媒映画and in Richmond over the past three years.
Aoyuan is more active locally in Burnaby, but it is also investing in Toronto鈥檚 residential land development.
Belford Properties, which is also backed by Chinese capital, is a major residential and commercial developer in Burnaby鈥檚 Metrotown area.
Recently it was disclosed that the redevelopment of the Oakridge transit centre is being led by China鈥檚 Modern Green Development Corp. and Kunyuan International Group, a company linked to China-based capital. The Oakridge site was sold for $440 million in 2016 and is zoned for 1.26 million square feet of residential.
Land bought for residential development is not subject to B.C.鈥檚 20 per cent foreign-buyer tax.
