2015 foreign investment reached $1.4 billion—report

US and Chinese nationals account for majority of foreign capital in Canadian real estate, according to a recent report

Canada’s real estate market has established itself as a prime destination for overseas investors over the past few years, and the results of a recent survey continued to support this assertion, with foreign capital in the last six months of 2015 reaching a record high of $1.4 billion.
 
The “All Signs Point North” by Colliers International also cited the prominence of U.S. and Chinese nationals in the Canadian housing sector, accounting for 48 per cent and 42 per cent of foreign investment, respectively. Meanwhile, 10 per cent hailed from Europe.
 
Colliers said that the trend is showing no signs of stopping in the near future, especially since the World Economic Forum cited Canada’s banking system as the “soundest” out there.
 
“The low loonie has attracted interest from foreign investors who are looking to enter the Canadian market while there is a cost advantage,” Colliers said in the study, as quoted by Business Vancouver.
 
Colliers noted that the commercial real estate and multi-family segments would enjoy sustained strength this year. In Vancouver alone, $588 million in foreign capital was used in the purchase of commercial real estate in the second half of 2015.
 
A report by commercial real estate services firm Avison Young concurred with these findings, adding that 88 per cent of commercial deals in B.C. worth greater than $5 million involved private investors, most of them foreign.
 
“Institutional investors and REITs [real estate investment trusts] remained largely sidelined,” the Avison Young report stated.