Mainland China real estate tourists
 

The age of real estate tourism is upon us — and it landed, quite literally, in Richmond on the weekend.

The city’s housing market is well known as a hot spot for Asian investors, but their fervor for Richmond reached another level on Friday.

Less than 24 hours after stepping off a flight from mainland China, 19 potential property investors were rounded up onto a bus and driven, as part of a bonafide tour, to the local Remax office, where they were welcomed by realtor Steve Latham.

And after a short “welcome to Richmond” video presentation, Latham, with the help of a translator, acted as their guide for the day on the bus.

Latham took the group to see luxury properties in Richmond and Point Grey, all of which were valued between $2.5 million and $6 million.

“It was pretty successful and they were all very anxious to get out there and look at houses,” Latham said.

“They flew in on Thursday to stay at the River Rock and as well as looking at houses, they had a good look around Richmond secondary.”

A Chinese-based tour operator pulled the visit together, said Latham.

“It’s kind of a new idea. We met with someone from immigration — who these people deal with when they come over — and we began to talk about this and it kind of came from there,” he added.

“They also looked at houses in Point Grey, but they looked at houses in Richmond, all more than 2,500 square feet and all were less than five years old.”

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Richmond News August 15, 2011

well im poor.

government should make money off these guys. They wanna come with bundles of cash? Grab their cash.

inb4omgyousoracistheadtax

This sure isn't going to help drive housing prices down.

fuck man..this is making things worse here. the local people cant afford houses cause these assholes from overseas are jacking up the prices

Yup, can't wait till they inflate the market so much so that no one can afford to buy, thereby making these investors sell at a significantly lower price. That or an increase in interest rates make it so.

^Our real estate prices seem high, because people insist on comparing our city to places like Phoenix or Detroit, which is completely unreasonable. Vancouver hosted the olympics less than two years ago and is consistantly rated among the most liveable cities in the world, not to mention kits beach being ranked among the top 10 in the world despite this being Canada.

So if you think our real estate is priced to high, compare Vancouver to New York, London, Paris, LA, Hong Kong or another city recognized around the world. Prices really aren't that high. If your cheap, move to Chilliwack and buy a house for $200k.
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if you think the sheeps in the article would have any real impact on the local housing market you have to be crazy. the smart ones bought during 08 - 09, did some reno on the property and is flipping it back to these johnny-come-lately.

So what you're saying is if they didn't come over to purchase our hoses, local people will be able to afford it? Think again, regardless if they come or not, the locals can barely afford a house.

Go fuck yourself Steve Latham

whiners gonna whine

I don't think that many of us could afford $2.5 - 6 million mansions.

Now, if they're mass buying 300k-$1 mil properties then we should be really worried.

The difference between vancouver and othe cities is that we have no work here. Housing can be high in other cities because propel make more. Here in van ppls wages barely increased but housing price is soaring. That's the big issue here.
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I seriously can't believe they got together and said "Yo since we so baller, and we want some houses, why don't we go as a group and buy them all?"

And since there are so many potential investors on the bus why not just let them fight over the houses and bump the prices up :troll:

RS mansion groupbuy

It's funny how this new shipment of Chinese tourists all have a propensity to make a B-line straight for Richmond. According to the article they opted Richmond over Point Grey. If I have a bizillion dollars, I would snatch up property in Coal Harbor, PG, or British Properties. No question. I can just picture them tossing aside all these brochures advertising these amazing properties in the aforementioned areas in favor of the blocky, pink/gold looking run-of-the-mill Chinese mansions that litter Vancouver. Talk about having no sense of assimilation or pioneering spirit from the get-go. From China to China-lite. Ahh C'est la vie.

I think you are getting it all wrong.

Most, if not all of those Chinese investors have no intention of assimilating, actually I am sure the idea of assimilation has probably never crossed their mind.
They see here as their vacation home and a place for investment, they have no intention of becoming canadian.

Think about it, when white people first moved to canada, did they prefer to live with the natives, or the whites stayed in their own european circle as well?

human are all the same.

Time to increase interest rates!!!!
I might be wrong but isn't China imposing some new law to make it hard to flow money out of China?

i'm no racist, but :fuuuuu: :fuuuuu: :fuuuuu: :fuuuuu: :fuuuuu: :fuuuuu:

You do have a point. Then again, if they aren't going to be living there, why do they care where the houses are located? Yet they made a jump straight to Richmond where the rest of their people are. This isn't like the 1700s where the early settlers have to move in with their white kind. Of course they had to do that. They were pioneers and the natives were savages and couldn't speak the language + there was xenophobia. Plus there were like zero white people in the new world other than in the small colonies. It was them, vs everyone else and the foreign landscape. I don't know if you have noticed, but in Vancouver, white people are quickly becoming the minority. And it's not like the "local" populus, white, brown, black, 2nd generation asians etc are going to kick them out of their neighborhood for moving in or something.

alas, easier said than done. our currency will decrease and we will no longer be able to enjoy these cross-border shopping sprees.

It's a good thing honestly, Vancouver housing market has been over inflated for the past few years, and the products need to be unloaded to someone, or the bubble is going out fast and loud.

I would much rather these tourists buying up 2-3 million mansions, which I am 99% sure NONE OF THE ABOVE POSTERS will buy within the next 5 years, than buying up condos by the floor/buildings and renting them out. That would really hurt most of the people in this thread.

if interest rate goes up, shopping sprees will be the last thing that you are gonna worry about.

3 things - if you can't afford to buy in vancouver, don't buy in vancouver

rents are LOW in vancouver relative to capital cost, so perhaps you could buy in another jurisdiction where rentals are better (believe it or not there are places where your rental income will cover your costs & povide you with some margin) - and then use that money to pay your rent here. you'll also be exposed to, if you ask me, more upside (how much higher can vancouver prices go with limited local buying? and absolutely limited first time buyers), and definitely less downside, as you're protected by the yield you get from rentals (even in down economies, where rentals increase)

also, if mortgage rates go up, that won't chnage the foreign investors, as foreign investors won't be, for the most part, buying with borrowed money

and finally, for the 'vancouver's so special' - its not, london is a financial, and many other things, hub, NY is a financial hub, southern california (which are way cheaper) not only have significnatly larger economies, but also have what is known as the best weather in the world. Also notice that London, NY, LA, etc have populations of 8, 9, 10M... vancouver is a very pretty city, but is effectively a small hick town with VERY LIMITED industry/economy. don't get me wrong, there are some great aspects to vancouver, but its NOT a big city, so comparing to mega cities such as NY, London, its ridiculous

Wait, WHAT?!

Kits Beach being in the top 10 in the WORLD!?:seriously:

Kits:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...lano_Beach.JPG
Maldives:
http://www.mostinterestingfacts.com/...d-Maldives.jpg

:fuckthatshit: