Douglas Todd: Metro Vancouver has 650 homes worth over $ 10 million. 13 times that of 2010

Lower Mainland is now According to the Bureau of Assessment BC, 80 mega-mansion is priced at over $ 20 million and is fixed at about $ 20. Between $ 30 million and $ 75 million.

Like almost any palace Single-family homes are located on the west side of Vancouver, in western Vancouver, and in Whistler. Its growth peaked around 2018.-Buyers, speculation and vacancy taxes ease the surprising surge in single-family luxury homes.

"This study When I went, I was completely surprised, which surprised me, "said Richard Kurland, a prominentVancouver immigration lawyerand author of the monthly newsletter Lexbase.

"I was hoping to find a 50 or 75 home with such value," Courland said. "This reflects the surge in the number ofmillionaires around the worldthey are looking for a place to park their high-end capital."

With the federal government on immigration policy Carland, who frequently advises the state government, lamented that Ottawa could not easily determine where the huge sums of money came from to buy a palace house. It is different from other countries.

David Ley, Professor Emeritus of UBC Geography, is the author ofMillionaire Migrants: Trans-Pacific LifeLines. C. Valuation data show "a story of a very expensive real estate growing abnormally in a short period of time."

Ray's eye-catching period is from 2015 to 2018 in Vancouver, which has the highest number of expensive homes. “During that period, the number of homes over $ 10 million has increased significantly.” In 2014, there were 78 homes worth $ 10 to $ 15 million in Vancouver. The total surged to 108 in 2015, 185 in 2016, 339 in 2017 and 352 in 2018.

"There was a big boom here from around 2015 to 2018. The bigger story is the huge amount of money circulating," Ray said. "It's global money, it's also local and national money. Its capital has to do something, and we have property as our main asset. We are in an era. "

Ray is new to the world's so-called gateway cities, the hub of new immigrants and offshore wealth, including Vancouver, Toronto, New York and Sydney. I'm writing a book. Sydney, unlike Canada, is especially evident because Australia uses foreign investment review agencies to accurately track where non-resident money comes from.

"I actually looked at the period 2014-2018 in Sydney and it shows that the demand for investing money in Australia has increased significantly during that time." Ley said. "Requests come from many countries, the main country being China."

Once Australia's capital was welcomed primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom, mostly mining. Ray said that most of the wealth that moves to Australia now comes from Asia, especially. Not only China, but alsoHong Kong,Singapore, Malaysia.

"That's a well-known story here in Vancouver," Ray said. "Sydney tells us a lot about Vancouver's numbers."

He said seven years ago, former Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, was the most affordable metro Vancouver in the world. He explained that he publicly denied that the real estate market was flooded with offshore wealth. But by 2016, Robertson recognized the power of global capital.

This year, Vancouver has 348 detached homes (data do not include condos) worth more than $ 10 million. This is compared to 25 in 2010.

There are 68 more such mega-mansions in the adjacent UBC Endowment Lands. There were only two in 2010.

There are another 158 units in West Vancouver worth more than $ 10 million, 10 in North Vancouver and 65 in Whistler. This is in contrast to 21 in 2010.

A 13-fold increase in lower mainland homes over $ 10 million cannot be explained by overall home prices, which nearly doubled during the same period.

Wealthy homebuyers "tend to buy in good residential areas because they have the greatest opportunity to significantly increase their capital," Ray said, Whistler said Metro. He said he was experiencing a different investment pattern than Vancouver.

Sally, Port Moody, and Langley each have more than $ 10 million in homes, but there are only 17 in the entire state, primarily Greater Victoria and Okanagan, but Ray is a super-rich man. There is still a strong downstream effect on the increase in value.

"The burnaby market is not completely separated from the Vancouver market. Looking at the rise in prices, if the price goes up in Vancouver, it can go up in other municipalities as well. You see. It's not the same amount, it's a proportional amount. A lot of investment in the top end goes to other parts as well. "

Ley and Vancouver both believe in British Vancouver taxes. I am. What the government brought in between 2016 and 2019 blew the wind from the sails of ultra-rich home investors.

For example, the number of homes in Vancouver was between $ 10 million and $ 15 million, 232 in 2022, down from 352 in 2018.

And the number of West Vancouver homes valued between $ 10 million and $ 15 million, with 2022 (130) slightly lower than 2018 (149). There was a similar small downtrend among the more expensive homes.

Kurland is B. C. Admitted that the market has moderately softened due to tax insecurity caused by the 2019 Land Ownership Transparency Act. This makes it more difficult for real estate owners to hide their identities.

"It went a bit rushed to the exit," said many high-end Metro Vancouver sellers with serious price cuts to get out of the market before their true identity was revealed. Carland said there was.

Many wealthy people said they were disguised as who they were when buying real estate because they were afraid of having to pay capital gains taxes. World income such as the United States, Germany and Iran.

In addition to the new informative ownership registration, Ray acknowledged a slowdown in offshore funding for metro housing in British Columbia. Liberal Party 2016 Foreign Buyer Tax, followed by NDP Speculation Tax and Vacancy Tax.

"I think the full range of new taxes has had an impact," Ray said. "It didn't completely stop the flow of foreign countries, but it was a kind of buyer's caution — a warning that the government is participating in the game."

dtodd @ postmedia. com

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