VICTORIA — Property purchase data released today by British Columbia's Finance Ministry indicates a stampede by prospective foreign buyers to avoid paying a 15 per cent tax in the days before the Aug. 2 deadline.
But the numbers also reveal the stampede slowed to a mule's pace after the deadline.
A ministry statement says the on July 29, the last business day before property transactions could be registered before the tax took effect, 55 per cent of all residential property deals in Metro Vancouver involved foreign nationals.
The statement says more than $850 million worth of property transactions involving foreign nationals were registered at the land titles office on July 29.
But ministry numbers also show declines in real estate transactions involving foreign nationals since the introduction of the foreign buyers tax.
The figures indicate 1,974 property deals in Metro Vancouver involving foreign buyers from June 10 to Aug. 1, but that number dips to 60 property transactions involving foreign buyers from Aug. 2 to 31.
