We archive here the fact of this article, ‘Chinese Spreading Wealth Make Vancouver Homes Pricier Than NYC’, by Hui-yong Yu and Christopher Donville, 17 May 2011, at bloomberg.com, which was also reproduced in full in the Vancouver Sun. We will extract some individual anecdotes in a string of separate posts. Given Bloomberg’s readership, this is another landmark in the whole ‘foreign-money driving Vancouver RE’ debate. Here are some general excerpts:
Buyers from mainland China are leading a wave of Asian investment in Vancouver real estate as China tries to damp property speculation at home. Good schools, a marine climate and the large, established Asian community as a result of Canada’s liberal immigration policy make Vancouver attractive.
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China, where home prices rose 28 percent in Beijing and 26 percent in Shanghai last year, has taken steps to curb property speculation within its borders. Chinese home prices gained for 19 straight months through December and climbed in almost all 70 cities tracked by the government during the first quarter. Premier Wen Jiabao placed curbs on mortgage lending, boosted down-payment requirements and limited the number of purchases.
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“As the Chinese get more and more prosperous, they are diversifying their assets out of China,” said Jim Rogers, an American investor who moved to Singapore from New York four years ago so his daughters could learn Chinese. “Vancouver is very high on the list.”
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Vancouver’s median home price of C$602,000 ($618,000) was 9.5 times the annual median household income of C$63,100. Canada had a 4.6 national multiple, making it “seriously unaffordable,” while the U.S. at 3.3 was “moderately unaffordable,” the study showed. To be affordable, the multiple must be 3 or less.
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“It’s definitely for real,” Gradecak [a westside realtor] said. “How long it’s going to last, that’s an unknown. I get asked the same question every single day.”