VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Nine homes in Vancouver’s exclusive Point Grey neighbourhood worth a combined $57-million have been bought by students, according to new documents shared by the NDP.

A total of $40-million worth of that property involved securing a mortgage.

“And when we looked into it, we realized that one of the students who was on title for one of the properties had actually bought and sold another home during the period making $1.15-million in the process, and raising questions for us, for how that was possible,” says NDP housing critic David Eby.

NDP housing critic Eby set to reveal “new discovery” — looks like it involves million dollar plus “student housing” pic.twitter.com/VafTzk7c3Q — Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) September 14, 2016

Eby feels the provincial government needs to take a more keen interest in how students were able to convince banks to give them a mortgage in the first place.

“Not just the students,” says Eby. “But the homemakers and the housewives, self-described, who put that on the land title as their professions — where is the money coming from? The fact that the provincial government has so little interest in asking those questions allows the Canadian banks to have a totally different set of rules for international investors than they have for locals.”

NDP housing critic Eby has documents showing 9 students on west side own homes worth $57-million. #VanRE pic.twitter.com/LBx8MUz52T — Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) September 14, 2016

This follows a Globe and Mail exclusive revealing a number of Canadian banks don’t require foreign buyers to prove the source of their income when applying for a mortgage.

Fundamentally, Eby is concerned this lax lending approach by some Canadian banks may be contributing to real estate speculation and the rapid price increases we’ve seen in our real estate market in recent times.