High welfare policies, a beautiful environment, and multiculturalism have long made Canadian cities, represented by Vancouver and Toronto, the top choice for global immigrants, leading to a subsequent rise in housing prices. Recently, Worldway Immigration Group learned from foreign media that following the "15% Foreign Buyer Tax," the city of Vancouver has administered a second heavy dose to its soaring housing market: the Empty Homes Tax.
This means that for a local property with a market valuation of 1 million CAD, the owner will be required to pay an annual empty homes tax of 10,000 CAD. Furthermore, according to a Bloomberg report, homeowners who misrepresent their housing status will face an additional daily penalty of 1%.
Over the past year or so, Canadian housing prices have risen significantly. A report released by Knight Frank shows that between June 2015 and June 2016, housing prices in Vancouver rose by 36.4%, ranking first in the world.
Many experts have pointed the finger at overseas buyers, with many believing they are the core force driving the skyrocketing housing prices across the Greater Vancouver area. In fact, the trend of Chinese buyers speculating in Canadian real estate is no longer news. Economists at the National Bank of Canada stated that in 2015, Chinese buyers invested 12.7 billion CAD in the Vancouver housing market, accounting for 33% of the city's total.
"I heard long ago that a property tax would be imposed," said a long-term immigrant who has lived in Canada for 10 years during an interview. "This is actually a good thing for us." According to her, the government is targeting those speculators who have hoarded multiple properties, while there is almost no impact on those who buy homes for their own residence.
Worldway immigration experts analyze that the Canadian government is taking heavy measures to control the overheating housing market, with the primary targets being non-Canadian citizens and non-immigrants. While many measures put pressure on foreign buyers, they are a major benefit to local citizens and immigrants, effectively protecting their interests. This also shows that when conducting overseas asset allocation, prioritizing the acquisition of an overseas immigration "status" is crucial.
With the downturn in the Chinese economy and the increasing risk of RMB depreciation, more and more people are beginning to focus on global asset allocation, with real estate and investment immigration becoming the mainstream choices for overseas asset allocation in 2016. Especially against the backdrop of the continuous depreciation of the RMB and the anxiety over domestic asset allocation, Chinese capital has been flowing offshore significantly. High-net-worth individuals are taking advantage of the surge in Canadian property values to invest heavily in Canadian immigration, with the goal of rapidly obtaining Canadian citizenship while achieving optimized allocation of overseas assets. For more details on Canadian investment immigration, please consult: 400-138-2929
