Global China and the Making of Vancouver’s Residential Property Market

This talk examines the role of international investment in the construction of a local housing market in Vancouver, Canada. The background political economy included the attempt by Canadian governments to reboot a troubled regional economy through an infusion of activity from the growth region of Asia Pacific. An important investment tool was a Business Immigration Programme (BIP), which welcomed capital and invited capitalists to transfer their entrepreneurial skills to Canada. The BIP was very popular in Greater China, attracting wealth migration to Vancouver from Hong Kong and Taiwan in the 1980s and 1990s, and from Mainland China since 2000. An intricate trans-Pacific real estate market developed, with off-plan sales and offshore marketing of Vancouver property in Asia Pacific, and sales to wealthy BIP migrants at or before their arrival in Canada.

House prices have risen rapidly and the detached housing market is now unaffordable to most Vancouver residents. Despite public discontent about the likely role of investors in boosting prices, provincial and local governments, who value the revenues of high property prices and BIP fees, have shown little desire to intervene.