Vancouver to Tax Foreign Real Estate Investments

"Foreign buyers of Metro Vancouver real estate will be taxed an additional 15 per cent, the government announced Monday in new legislation," according to an article by Rob Shaw.

"The tax would increase the property transfer tax on non-Canadian citizens or non-permanent residents purchasing homes. It would begin Aug. 2 and apply to all residential property in Metro Vancouver, excluding the Tsawwassen First Nation," adds Shaw.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark is quoted in the article describing the need for the new tax:

There is evidence now that suggests that very wealthy foreign buyers have raised the price of overall housing for people in British Columbia. If we are going to put British Columbians first, and that is what we are intending to do, we need to make sure that we do everything we can to try and keep houses affordable and try to make sure those very wealthy foreign buyers find it a little bit harder to buy a house in the Greater Vancouver area.

The bill also allows the city to tax vacant homes.