Vancouver Home Sales Nosedive After Foreign Buyer Restrictions Take Effect

Canada's most expensive property market saw home sales drop 39 percent in October from a year earlier, according to a report in The Seattle Times. Erik Hertzberg and Natalie Obiko Pearson report that the drop followed multiple government actions designed to slow down the hot real estate market which has seen home prices climb 29 percent in the last year. The most significant action was a new 15 percent tax on real estate transactions with foreign buyers, which went into effect in August of this year.

The British Columbia government imposed a 15 percent tax on foreign buyers in August, the city plans to start taxing vacant homes next year and the federal government tightened mortgage insurance eligibility requirements on Oct. 3.