From Overseas Press

Chinese drive up Vancouver home price

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-06-07 16:00

Aside from its already rising housing prices, a fresh wave of Chinese buyers has helped propel Vancouver into one of the world's hottest real estate market, according to an article published by the Wall Street Journal on June 1.

"Bungalows - small, detached, single-story homes, some in need of significant repair - can command prices well above a million Canadian dollars ($1.02 million.)," says the article. In fact, while the Canadian Real Estate Association reported an 8 percent year-on-year increase for the national average house price, in Vancouver, the figure is much higher, "up 21 percent from a year ago."

Indeed, it is estimated that median house prices in Vancouver "are 9.5 times median household income. Only Hong Kong and Sydney are less affordable by that measure (New York comes in at 5.1.)," the article quoted a survey as saying.

Local real-estate agents in Vancouver have pointed to "a flood of foreign buyers, particularly Chinese" for the sharp price rises. They say "Chinese buyers dominate the high end of the market, fanning demand and prices across the city." A local housing consultancy pored through sales data in two high-end Vancouver neighborhoods, finding that "74 percent of buyers of luxury homes in the areas last year" were Chinese, says the article.

Naturally, the boom has triggered some backlash, with a formed city councilor suggesting in April that Vancouver should study measures to restrict "both local and foreign real-estate purchases, to ease prices." Some economists are also worried, fearing that housing prices may be too high for the average Vancouver households.

Vancouver has witnessed several waves of Chinese influx, beginning in the late 1800s, when Canada brought in workers to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, according the article, and about 20 percent of the city population is now of ethnic Chinese origin. "That makes it a natural market for Chinese looking for overseas investments, amid Beijing's recent attempts to cool its own property market," says the article.