Canadian province to impose extra tax on foreign homebuyers

Foreigners will have to pay an additional tax of 15 percent for the residential homes they buy in the Canadian province of British Columbia, authorities said Monday.

British Columbia Premier Christy Clark said the goal is to make homes affordable for the middle class.

"There is evidence now that suggests that very wealthy foreign buyers have raised the price of overall housing for people in British Columbia," Clark told a press conference in Victoria, the provincial capital.

"We need to make sure that we do everything we can to try and keep houses affordable and try to make sure those very wealthy foreign buyers find it a little bit harder to buy a house in the Greater Vancouver area," she said.

The measure, which takes effect on Aug. 2, will be applied to all residential property in the province, including those purchased by foreign-controlled corporations. Commercial property is excluded.

Latest government data show that foreign buyers purchased more than 1 billion Canadian dollars (760 million U.S. dollars) worth of property in British Columbia between June 10 and July 14, and 86 percent of that was in the Lower Mainland -- Vancouver plus surrounding areas. Endi