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I'm disgusted/saddened by the biased reporting that's taken place over this issue. This article points out how Bloomberg and other media are attracted to the "foreign buyers" narrative:

http://www.straight.com/news/735161/revisiting-real-estate-r...

Study finds foreign buyers impact Vancouver real estate but likely can't account for sky-high prices:

http://www.straight.com/news/720471/study-finds-foreign-buye...

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Same in London. In everything except extremely high end property. But it is a common narrative for political purposes because people "feel" it to be right.

Not to mention perfectly valid non-speculative buyers.

Scenario for you: international student completed UBC and started working full-time on local tech company. After struggle to save, put a deposit on a place after saving from working part-time during later years of degree and about to close deal in a couple weeks (when new place is ready). Now, BAM! Gotta have to pony up 15% on home price agreed upon nearly a year earlier. More than original deposit! Tell me how that encourages qualified tech workers to stick around...

They aimed at a particular kind of "foreign buyers" in a crowd, but used a shotgun...

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