OTTAWA — A report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says home sales in Vancouver were already slowing before the plunge in recent months in the wake of a new tax on foreign buyers.
In its housing market insight report into the preliminary impact of the foreign buyers tax, CMHC says it's too early to determine the long-term impact of the decision.
The housing agency says the drop in sales in August and September continued an already established trend, particularly at the higher end of the price range.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver reported earlier this week that September home sales fell 32.6 per cent compared with the same month last year. That followed a 26 per cent year-over-year decline in August and a dip of about 19 per cent the previous month.
The B.C. government implemented a 15 per cent tax on foreign buyers in August.
Provincial government data shows an increase in foreign homebuyers in the days before the tax came into effect on Aug. 2, but then a sharp drop in the month that followed.
