[RBCJASONWANG]

vancouversun.com/pmn/n...121e02c0b3

[RBCJASONWANG]

Foreign transactions made up 1.8 per cent of purchases in the central Okanagan, 1.4 per cent in the Fraser Valley, 4.3 per cent in the Victoria area and 4.4 per cent in the Nanaimo area, provincial data compiled by the B.C. Real Estate Association shows.

[RBCJASONWANG]

The benchmark price of a detached home in the Vancouver area in July 2016 was $1.58 million. By January 2017, the trough of the market, it was $1.48 million. But it steadily climbed back and now it sits at $1.6 million.

Cameron Muir, chief economist of the B.C. Real Estate Association, said the temporary cooling effect was magnified by local buyers who held back to see how the tax would impact prices.

It¡¯s fine if the government wants to collect more tax from foreign buyers, but it won¡¯t make homes more affordable, he said.