Year's worth of monthly agent survey results finds 75% of buyers to be local owner-occupiers, and nearly 20% local or Canadian investors
Overseas investors make up only a small proportion of buyers in the Greater Vancouver real estate market, according to a new combined study of real estate agent surveys by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
Examining the results of monthly polls of active REALTORS® regarding clients and their home purchases, the REBGV has combined a year’s worth of statistics from April 2016 to April 2017, which it says reveals demographic insights about buyers “on the ground” over the past year.
The study found 38% of buyers were moving to their new home from within their current community or neighbourhood, while 36% were moving from another city or community with the Metro Vancouver area, making a total of 75% who were local, owner-occupier buyers.
REBGV survey where from
The combined survey results found that the 32.2% of buyers were first-time buyers, and a combined proportion of 49% were home sellers buying another property to move into.
Local or domestic (Canadian) investors accounted for 18.9% of buyers, according to the study.
Only 2.3% of Metro Vancouver homebuyers over the past year were described by the REALTOR® respondents as foreign investors.
The survey also looked at household characteristics. Overall, just over half of the clients cited by agents over the past year were families with children (35.5%) or young couples with no children (15.7%), said the REBGV.
Just over a quarter of buyers were single (25.2%), with just over half of those male (13.3% of total).
To read the study and see more results, click here.
