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Philipp said one of his offices reported four cancelled deals as a result of the tax, while another reported five failed transactions on Friday alone, with one directly tied to the tax.

“There’s a domino effect here. One deal collapses, there’s so many other deals impacted by that,” Philipp said.

Not all of the cancelled transactions are directly due to a foreign buyer pulling out, but when they do, it could leave sellers in the lurch and force them to pull out of their own property purchases, creating a contagion effect, he said.

The tax might not faze foreign buyers looking for a luxury home in Vancouver’s west side, “but in my area, young professionals will absolutely be impacted.”

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board covers some Metro Vancouver municipalities affected by the tax, including Surrey, White Rock, Langley and North Delta. It estimates foreign buyers — described by Philipp as mostly middle- to upper-income professionals on work visas who live and work in Metro Vancouver — make up three to five per cent of its region’s average 20,000 sales a year.

“I’m hearing a lot of evidence. Realtors are saying it’s happening to them,” said Morrison. “I’ve had deals die in the last couple days,” although not all of them are directly related to the foreign home buyers’ tax.

Morrison said many of the people affected by the tax aren’t rich, but are here on work permits or working toward getting landed immigrant status.

“These are people who scraped together every cent to get into the market and are now faced with a 15-per-cent tax,” he said. On an Yaletown condo, “that could add up to $150,000 they don’t have, so they will have to walk away from the transaction and lose their deposit or beg, borrow and steal the money from someone else.”