The influence of foreign buyers is concentrated on detached homes within the City of Vancouver, leading to exaggerated concerns about expensive real estate when there are affordable options such as condos and townhouses in the region, says the British Columbia Real Estate Association.

While the average price for detached homes in Vancouver proper surged 19.2 per cent over one year to hit a record $2.23-million last month, the association notes that prices are sharply lower when looking at all housing types in the broader region, including suburbs such as Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Surrey and Langley.

Cameron Muir, the association's chief economist, said Wednesday that 32 per cent of sold properties – detached homes, condos and townhouses – went for less than $400,000 in Metro Vancouver last year.

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The price for all housing types averaged $738,000 in Metro Vancouver, where almost 70 per cent of resale properties changed hands below that regional average, Mr. Muir said.

He made the comments as he released his report titled Market Implications of Foreign Buyers, which plays down the influence of offshore property purchasers on the price and supply of Vancouver-area real estate.

Last week, B.C. Premier Christy Clark dismissed a proposal by Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who called for the province to introduce a speculation tax on people who flip houses.

She also rejected his suggestion to selectively raise B.C.'s property transfer tax to target high-end transactions.

Mr. Muir said the B.C. government is right to shun measures aimed at curbing foreign investment because there is no evidence that first-time buyers are being shut out of acquiring entry-level properties in the region.

"Until we have data that says foreign investment is an issue, why run around trying to make decisions that may have some unintended consequences? High prices for detached houses are largely the result of densification efforts," he said in an interview.

Detached homes are becoming the luxury segment of the local real estate market, he said, arguing that there are limited supplies of detached houses while developers are focusing on building multifamily projects – a combination that has helped push up values for properties with a front and back yard.

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Based on what little data are available, Mr. Muir estimates that foreign buyers of residential properties account for less than 5 per cent of Metro Vancouver's total sales activity for detached homes, condos and townhouses.

There is no requirement to attach a residency declaration on land-transfer forms, a situation that needs to be rectified to help understand the role of foreign investment in housing, Mr. Muir said.

The price gap between detached properties and condos has been widening for more than a decade. In Greater Vancouver – which includes suburbs such as Richmond and Burnaby but excludes centres such as Surrey and Langley – the average price for detached homes climbed 16.3 per cent over one year to reach a record $1.42-million last month. By contrast, the price of condos in Greater Vancouver last month averaged $476,516, up 5.3 per cent from a year earlier.

Foreign investment from countries such as China is one component to examine when studying property prices in the Vancouver area, said Paul Kershaw, founder of Generation Squeeze, a lobby group formed to represent the views of Canadians in their 40s and younger.

Low interest rates, shrinking supplies of detached properties and greater housing demand today in urban centres compared with a generation ago are other factors to consider, Mr. Kershaw said. "Because of the lack of data, I can't speculate too much on the degree to which foreign speculation is driving housing costs in Vancouver," he said. "There is some luck in getting into the housing market. The parents of today's young people lucked out with timing and they have gained a great deal of wealth with their houses."

A recent study by Andrew Yan, an urban planner with Bing Thom Architects, showed that 99 per cent of detached properties on Vancouver's west side had assessed values of at least $1-million on July 1, 2014.