Wealthy Chinese send Vancouver housing prices soaring

Niko Bell | Special for USA TODAY

VANCOUVER, Canada — Ben Wang practices calligraphy in a quiet study overlooking the dense walnut trees of the West Point Grey neighborhood. The 16-year-old high-school student sets inky bamboo brush to paper, swirling stroke after delicate stroke.

Wang was introduced to the graceful art where he was born: noisy, crowded Shanghai. The poetic phrase he is practicing, "silently observe," seems more suited to the stillness of Vancouver's west side.

Wang's family embodies the classic story of this city's new immigrant homeowners. His mother, a judge on Shanghai's court of appeals, and his father, an advertising executive, found success in China and sent their son overseas to be educated.

Ben's mother joined him afterward, followed by her mother. The family bought a two-story, white stone house on a quiet street in West Point Grey, where detached homes hover around $3 million.

There is a grumbling suspicion among many Vancouverites that wealthy Chinese are responsible for soaring housing costs — the median price of a house here is more than 10 times the median income, less affordable than anywhere in the world but Hong Kong.

A Chinese businessman snapped up a $50 million oceanfront mansion in March just a few miles from the Wangs' home. Several Vancouver realty firms reported that between a third and two-thirds of houses sold last year went to Chinese buyers.

"Mainland Chinese buyers are really driving markets from Sydney through New York to London, and Canadian cities like Vancouver — particularly Vancouver — are no exception," former ambassador to China David Mulroney told Canada's national broadcaster, the CBC, in March. Like many in Vancouver, Mulroney wants to restrict investments in high-end real estate to protect lower-income buyers.

The evidence of Chinese money flowing into Vancouver is unmistakable. South of downtown, the suburb of Richmond has been transformed into a bustling network of Chinese markets, shopping malls, hair salons and English schools. On Richmond's busiest street corners, signs in Chinese are more visible than those in English. It's easier to buy a pork bun than a hamburger, and you can shop all day without speaking a word of English. Along the light-rail corridors, gleaming condo developments are sprouting up to accommodate new buyers.

"For the Chinese investor, there are two important things; one is family, and the other is real estate," said Eric Andreason, marketing manager of Adera, a firm that advertises to Chinese buyers. "They're very savvy, and they know real estate. They know that if they buy a place and hold onto it, it's going to do well for them."

Andreason said many Chinese families, like the Wangs, come to Vancouver looking for a good education for their children and an opportunity to divest their money from a potential Chinese housing bubble that could burst. With a few million dollars to spend, a new home often seems like the safest bet.