The implementation of the foreign buyers tax last summer appears to have barely made a dent on Tri-City home prices despite the fact that last-minute deals before the Aug. 1 deadline made up nearly 12% of all real estate transactions.
Surely a rush to purchase real estate before the 15% tax kicked in was a good sign that foreign investment was at play even in Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody — nice cities, to be sure, but considered the hinterland by foreign buyers who are typically Vancouver-centric.
According to real estate sales figures, however, the tax had an immediate effect of dampening single family home prices, but only slightly, and not in POCo, and prices for townhomes and condos continued to rise.
Clearly, there's more at play in the Lower Mainland real estate market as anxious buyers try to get a toehold.
