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The new “speculation tax” will amount to 0.5 per cent of a property’s assessed value in 2018 and 2 per cent in following years. The result is a $40,000 annual bill for a house valued at $2 million and a $100,000 levy for a home valued at $5 million. Those prices should be enough to keep at least some non-resident speculators out of the province and to push others to add their properties to Vancouver’s choked rental market where vacancies currently stand at less than 1 per cent, Kavcic said.

“The (speculation) tax is key because it will change the economics of buying and holding real estate in that part of the country,” Kavcic said. “It’s very aggressive and I think it’s warranted. “

B.C.’s foreign buyer’s tax, originally set at 15 per cent on the purchase of a home, was announced a year ahead of Ontario’s. While Vancouver detached home prices initially fell by about 7 per cent, they soon returned to pre-tax levels.

Nevertheless areas that were not beholden to the foreign buyers’ tax, such as Vancouver Island and Kelowna have since seen price increases of between 20 and 25 per cent, suggesting prices there soared in the absence of the levy.

However, prices in Metro Vancouver’s more affordable condominium market, after briefly flattening out, soon resumed their rapid pace of growth, soaring 28 per cent since the tax was introduced.

Despite the hard hitting moves by the province, fierce demand for this housing type is expected to continue. While the taxes are “a step in the right direction” the B.C. government’s budget does little to address the severe supply shortage in the market, said Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at CIBC World Markets.