Why are Investors Shifting their Focus from Vancouver to Toronto? – A Discussion by Ringo Tsang

A couple of weeks ago, I hosted a seminar in Vancouver to educate the locals about the real estate market in Toronto. I had the opportunity to speak with various seasoned real estate investors and agents. One thing always came up — the fact that the Vancouver real estate boom is coming to an end, and everyone is anticipating a decline in both real estate transactions and prices due to a few reasons:

1. Vancouver’s Heavy Reliance on the Chinese Capital

As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog, Vancouver’s economy has been heavily reliant on the investments of the Chinese. The Chinese economic growth has begun to slow down in the recent years, which means that we can anticipate its effects on other cities that rely on their investments.

2. The NDP Government’s Recent Imposition of Vacancy Tax & Foreign Buyers’ Tax

This has impeded the growth of Vancouver’s real estate market. Historically, Vancouver’s real estate markets have always been outperforming Toronto due to its proximity to Asia as well as its milder winters. This has always made it a very attractive location for wealthy investors abroad, who are the driving forces of the real estate market in Vancouver.

As technology has been advancing exponentially over the years, our large world has also been brought infinitely closer together. Information is available at the tip of our fingers and we have the opportunity to make more educated decisions (a luxury for all of us, really). This is especially useful for investors. Though some information online can be misleading, we know that investors (and everyone else!) are always using the internet to better inform themselves.