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The B.C. government started tracking the percentage of foreign buyers on June 10 and over the next 19 days found they made up five per cent of the market. By July 14, a six-week analysis showed foreign buyers were up to 10 per cent of all sales. From July 15 to Aug. 1, they made up 19 per cent of all sales.

However, the new tax on overseas buyers, implemented Aug. 2, was announced on July 25 and encouraged some people to move up their transactions to beat the 15 per cent additional charge. For August, the percentage of foreign sales had retreated to just one per cent.

“The B.C. government points out that on the final business day before the tax implementation (July 29), $850 million worth of sales to foreign resident took place, representing 40 per cent of all foreign investment in real estate during the two months,” CMHC noted in its report.

In terms of the impact on the market, the Crown corporation notes the Vancouver market had already peaked in early 2016 before the foreign buyers tax was brought in. August sales were down 40 per cent compared to the average for the first seven months of the year while sales of detached homes dropped 59 per cent. The trend continued in September.

As for prices, CMHC says they have been rising for years and noted the compound annual rate over the past decade is 7.9 per cent with dips recorded in 2008 and 2011. Single detached sales, a more expensive class of housing, have accounted for 44 per cent activity over the past decade and influenced the average price.