Homes of new immigrants in Metro Vancouver worth $824,000 more than locals

New data released this week by Statistics Canada provides a new account on how recent immigrants have integrated themselves into Metro Vancouver’s housing market.

Based on those who immigrated between 2009 and 2016, recent immigrants own 5% of all single-detached properties in the region. Moreover, these single-detached properties owned by immigrants have an average assessment value of $2.3 million — about $824,000 or roughly 56% more than the average for Canadian-born owners.

See also

• Lower Mainland will need 500,000 new homes by 2041: report
• Vancouver announces plan to allow 72,000 new homes over next 10 years
• Canada planning to welcome more than 1 million new immigrants by end of 2021
• Renting is now cheaper than buying in Vancouver: National Bank of Canada

Statistics Canada explains that about 60% of the difference in value comes from the age, size, and location of these properties; factors such as differences in age and family income of property owners do not explain differences in average property value.

Moreover, recent immigrants that arrived in Canada under the federal government’s Immigrant Investors Program owned single-detached homes worth an average value of $3.1 million. Those who immigrated under the Quebec Immigrant Investors Program had even higher averages of $3.3 million.

But individuals who came under the Province Nominees Program and skilled workers programs owned single-detached homes worth an average value of $2.4 million and $1.6 million, respectively.

“In Vancouver, differences in property values between recent immigrant and Canadian-born owners vary substantially when immigrant owners are examined separately on the basis of their immigration category (that is, the type of program used to facilitate entry into Canada) and their country of birth,” wrote the federal statistics agency in its report.

“Recent investor immigrants, as a group, generally own more expensive single-detached properties in Vancouver than their counterparts who came to Canada under other immigration programs.”

Across the board, single-detached homes account for 39% of all immigrant-owned properties, compared to 48% of properties owned by Canadian-born residents.