Real-estate agents haven’t seen anything like it since the mid-1990s, when fears surrounding the Hong Kong handover fuelled the first rush into the local market by Chinese investors. This second charge could be as substantial as the first, which drove up property values by hundreds of thousands of dollars.
There are more wealthy people in China than ever before. Concerns about inflation and a real-estate bubble prompted the Chinese government to limit the number of condominiums people can own to two. So the wealthiest Chinese are looking elsewhere to invest their money.
That it’s hard to get money out of the Communist country appears to be a myth.
“Real-estate values in China have doubled over the last two or three years,’ said Les Sohar, an International real estate specialist. “So real estate in Vancouver and Toronto doesn’t seem too expensive to them any more.
“We’re also seeing a lot of Chinese looking for a parachute plan. These are people afraid of a regime change in China and what that might mean for their wealth base. Canada is seen as a safe place to put their money.”
The Chinese love the political and economic stability Canada offers. We have a good education system too, which is why so many mainland Chinese send their children here to go to school. It is common for a mother and her children to come to over, while the husband remains in China to earn a living.
Thanks largely to the latest great push from China, the average price of a home in Greater Vancouver rose 12 per cent in 2010 and is expected to rise another three per cent this year, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
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