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“My Chinese investor was in town, and he said ‘We can all afford the 15-per-cent tax, but it creates uncertainty,'” Saretsky said. “He said everybody in China is being told not to invest right now in Canada.”

The sense from China buyers, Saretsky said, is that B.C. residents are “pissed off” about skyrocketing home prices driven by offshore investment, and that Canadian governments are starting to respond.

In China, media coverage on the new Metro Vancouver tax has been widespread, Dave Platter of Juwai Limited said. While investors may be turned off by the Vancouver tax, most Chinese citizens seem to approve.

“Interestingly, most public comments left on the online news stories about the new tax are not complaints against Vancouver,” said Matthew Moore, president of the Americas for Juwai.com. “Quite the opposite, many people respect the decision to impose new taxes.

“They are coming from a situation where an apartment bought two years ago in Shanghai could be worth 75 per cent more today. So, many feel that more measures should be imposed to cool their own home markets and protect accessibility to property.”

Dean Jones, owner of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty in Seattle, said he believes effects of the Metro Vancouver tax will accelerate already hot demand in Seattle from Mainland China buyers.

“We are seeing a rush into Seattle as the next market that matters,” Jones said. “I think for Chinese buyers it becomes like a self-fulfilling prophecy. As a group, they know they can move a market higher. It is definitely the most dominant new presence in the market.”