Vancouver Real Estate News Blog

The attraction of Vancouver has been legendary for years.  Vancouver is nearly always in the top five rankings on the Best Places to Live lists.  This beautiful area attracts tourists, immigrant investors and retirees.  But one of the biggest stabilizers to the Vancouver real estate market has been the immigrant investor. 

There has been a strong interest in this cosmopolitan beautiful port town for decades.  The close proximity to Asia and the US has made it a favorite with investors worldwide, but most recently an influx of Chinese investors has served to strengthen the market even further. 

The immigrant investor is extremely important to the real estate market stability and steady increase in property prices in Vancouver. 

The requirements for immigrant investors in the Vancouver real estate market have been getting more and more restrictive over time.  Current requirements place net worth levels of the investor at $1.6 million with $800,000 investment in property.  The requirement levels have doubled in the last year.  More than 10,000 foreign investors enter the Vancouver market in an average year. 

China has been an attractive market for Vancouver, as there are now more than a half million people in China that are over the required level of net worth for the Vancouver market.  The close proximity to Asia, the cultural mix of the market and the healthy, active living opportunities in the area make the Vancouver market especially appealing to the Chinese investor. 

Vancouver has had a growing economy including the financial industry, film production and technology industries.  The strong, healthy work force has attracted corporate headquarters and economic growth.  The interest in the film location and postproduction technology has fostered many off shoot industries that support the film industry.  

The cultural diversity of the area is attractive to the second home, holiday home and retirement investor as well as the immigrant investor. 

The Vancouver real estate market has remained steady with rising price levels even in the worst of economic times, worldwide.  There has been recent concerns that the steady rise is indicative of a pending real estate bubble.  The real estate industry pundits point to the low interest rates, low levels of flipping speculation and high levels of foreign investment as reasons for the price rises. 

There is concern that the change in the interest rates, which are set to rise in 2013 will impact the stability of the Vancouver real estate market in the future, but for now the market seems to have escaped the drama of the world real estate market. 

This pretty city seems to have a strong draw for people worldwide.  The healthy life style, active living attraction and the greenbelt availability draw people consistently to the area.  The wide range of restaurants, cultural and art attractions and entertainment appeal to a sophisticated population base as well. 

There is a strong inventory of properties available for the resident, investor and retiree and the market continues to look healthy, strong and growing in Vancouver.