VICTORIA _ Property purchase data released today by British Columbia’s Finance Ministry indicates a stampede by prospective foreign buyers to avoid paying a 15 per cent tax in the days before the Aug. 2 deadline.

But the numbers also reveal the sudden rush slowed to a trickle after the deadline.

A ministry statement says that on July 29, the last business day before property transactions could be registered before the new tax took effect, 55 per cent of all residential property deals in Metro Vancouver involved foreign nationals.

The statement says more than $850 million in property transactions involving foreign nationals were registered at the land titles office on July 29.

Government statistics show declines in real estate transactions involving foreign nationals since the introduction of the foreign buyers tax.

The figures indicate 1,974 property deals in Metro Vancouver involved foreign buyers from June 10 to Aug. 1, but that number dips to just 60 property transactions involving foreign buyers from Aug. 2 to 31.

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via repmag.ca