Foreign buyers’ tax good for banks

The new 15 per cent tax which will apply to most foreign buyers in Metro Vancouver from next week will be good news for Canada’s banks. That’s the view of ratings agency Moody’s which believes that the tax will mean a slowing of Vancouver house prices, which should help “stabilize banks’ mortgage collateral values in that city.”

Moody’s assistant vice president Jason Mercer wrote in his report that according to the government’s assessment the impact of foreign buyers is “not insignificant.” He says that Hong Kong and Australia have similar taxation and that its absence “accelerated the pace of foreign investment in Vancouver and this levels the playing field with those jurisdictions.”









Source: http://www.canadianrealestatemagazine.ca/market-update/foreign-buyers-tax-good-for-banks-211235.aspx