Immigrants to Vancouver buying higher priced homes
Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth
Immigrants to Vancouver are buying more expensive homes than Canadians in the city according to a new report.
Official figures from Statistics Canada shows that homes purchased by immigrants are worth on average a third more than those owned by Canadians.
This is based on stats for homes bought between 2009 and 2016 and reveals that immigrants own 5% of single-family homes, with an average value of $2.34 million, some $824,000 more than those owned by the average Canadian.
There’s a larger gap for those who moved to the city earlier and StatsCan says Toronto has not seen the same trend; the average assessment value of single-detached houses in Toronto owned by recent immigrants is $892,600, $43,300 higher than the average among Canadian-born owners.
The agency says that the current study “does not attribute changes in property prices in Toronto and Vancouver to any specific socio-demographic or economic factor. To disentangle the causal impact of these factors, comprehensive socio-economic information over many years would be required.”
It notes that ownership generally reflects the share of population that immigrants make up in each city.
The report suggests that immigrants may own more expensive homes as they may not have large savings in traditional retirement accounts or other investments. Cultural attitudes may also play a part.
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