Research ties immigration to inflated house prices in B.C.

An SFU-UBC study claims to have evidence linking immigration to real estate prices for the first time, according to a Canadian Press article in the Globe and Mail.

The researchers found that housing prices in Vancouver communities preferred by Chinese immigrants saw a drop relative to the overall housing market after a federal immigration program was cancelled.

UBC business professor Tsur Somerville collaborated on the study but cautioned against treating foreign money and immigrant investment as one and the same.

“We’re looking at immigrants who have wealth. So therefore they come with capital. But it’s not foreign capital separate from immigrants,” said Somerville.

The story also appeared on CBC, CTV, Huffington Post, Yahoo Finance, Maclean’s, City News, News 1130, Metro News, and Castanet.