As I discussed on twitter - I received this email response from a client of mine after sending him a story about the Vancouver market. This was his reply.
(names removed for obvious reasons)
Hi Gubb,
Good article, I see it up close and personal every day.. I've been struggling to get a hold of business and it's becoming more difficult every month. The overall influence of the Asian buyer has become overwhelming. Home sellers almost universally believe it's necessary to hire an Asian realtor to get top dollar selling a home. Buyers are constantly having to go into multiple offer situations and are being out bid by Asian buyers willng to pay well over asking and assessed value. I've written offers on 4 properties in the last month - ALL were outbid, some by as much as 30% over asking
70% of the for sale signs hopping up are with Asian realtors. The older, more well established realtors who dominated this market a few years ago are now fighting for listings and the back stabbing has begun. Up the street from my office the new home British Pacific Properties are selling new MODEST homes that start between $4m and $5m, and ALL of the buyers so far are from Mainland China who expect to come here once a year for a couple of weeks of holiday.
People are starting to speak out but no one is doing anything. In Australia they have the same problem but their government's foreign investment review board has implemented new rules to stem the surge in home sales to foreigners. We need to do the same.
GUBB Comments below:
My client then provided an example of a big recent home sale for $51,800,000
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Priciest+Metro+Vancouver+homes+draw+buyers+from+China+with+video/10875651/story.html
Pretty amazing stuff. I do honestly think that the percentage of Vancouver sales with Mainland Chinese ties is FAR higher than 30%.. I'd be willing to suggest it's closer to 60%.. but of course no one really cares... yet.
Cheers!
Gubb
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