B.C. government will not reconsider tax on foreign homebuyers, says premier
VANCOUVER — The plunge in real estate sales and deceleration in price increases in the Vancouver area last month were exactly what the government was trying to manoeuvre, and Premier Christy Clark says there will be no changes to the foreign-buyers tax.
Clark told reporters Tuesday that her government will not reconsider the 15-per-cent tax that is intended to calm what she called a “distorted market.”
“The prices were going up way too fast and if we helped slow that down, that’s good,” she said.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver announced last Friday that August sales were down by 26 per cent compared with last year, signalling a return to more typical levels.