Greater Vancouver property prices have hit an average of CAN$603,000 and some locals say Chinese buyers are pricing them out of the market and should face higher taxes

Vancouver property prices have reached an average of CAN$603,000, as some say rich Chinese buyers are to blame and are pricing locals out of the market.

Values in Greater Vancouver rose 1.2% over the last year, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

Property sales rose by more than one-third in the year to November 2013, but are still below 10-year averages. There were 2,321 sales through the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) in November 2013, up 37.7% on the 1,686 sales in November 2012, but 1.2% below the 10-year average for the month. The total was also 12.8% down on the 2,661 sales from the previous month, the REBGV data states.

REBGV President Sandra Wyant tells OPP Connect, “Steady and consistent trends have prevailed the Greater Vancouver housing market throughout 2013.

“The sales and listings activities we have experienced this year has resulted in gradual and very modest increases in home prices over the last twelve months.

“Homebuyer and seller activity has followed long-term averages throughout the latter half of this year. This has helped to keep our market in a balanced state.”

Ian Young, who writes the The Hongcover blog in the South China Morning Post, tells how Vancouver resident Joy Mo wants to prevent rich mainland Chinese buyers pricing locals out of the market and suggests non-resident buyers should pay higher property taxes.

She says, “I’m quite disappointed. This is a place for all of us and if you drive all the local buyers out of the market, what is the community going to be?”

Mo was also born in mainland China, but does not want to be “painted with the same brush” as the wealthy migrants she partly blames for her family’s housing situation. She and her Canadian husband have been renting in Port Moody since they sold their last home in 2008, as they can no longer afford a house in Vancouver.

Thousands of investor-class migrants have obtained immigration visas by handing over CAN$800,00 to the provincial government (the loan is returned, without interest, after five years). During the past eight years, 24,265 out of a total 36,892 investor migrants who settled in BC were mainland Chinese.

The REBGV shows how prices are rising in each type of Vancouver home. In November 2013, there were 926 sales of detached properties, up 47.2% from the 629 detached sales recorded in November 2012 and 1.1% up on the 916 units sold in November 2011. The benchmark price for detached properties rose 1.1% from November 2012 to CAN$924,800.

Apartment sales reached 969 in November 2013, rising 29.2% compared to the 750 sales in November 2012, but down 3.1% on the 1,000 sales in November 2011. The benchmark price of an apartment rose 0.8% from November 2012 to CAN$367,800.

The total of attached property sales in November 2013 was 426, up 38.8% compared to the 307 sales in November 2012, down  4.1% compared to the 444 attached properties sold in November 2011. The benchmark value of an attached unit is CAN$458,000, up 0.8% from November 2012.

There were 3,245 homes listed for sale in November in Greater Vancouver up 17.7% from November 2012 and 1.5% above the 10-year average. However, it was 24.8% lower than last month’s 4,315 new listings.

At the last count, a total of 13,986 homes in the city were listed for sale under MLS, which is 10.9% down on November last year and 8.3% below last month.

The sales-to-active-listings ratio is 16.6% in Greater Vancouver, which means there are estimated to be more than 16 buyers for every 100 homes listed for sale.

To read the full Hongcover blog, go to: http://bit.ly/18ArH7S

By Adrian Bishop, Editor, OPP Connect