New data show foreign buyers purchased 5 per cent of the homes sold in and around Vancouver over three weeks last month and, on average, spent about $400,000 more than Canadians in these transactions, the first statistical hint of the impact offshore money might be having on the region’s overheated market.

Economists say the 5-per-cent figure is high enough to be a factor in the surging cost of Metro Vancouver’s housing stock, but B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong wouldn’t comment on how the two might be linked.

Across British Columbia, foreign buyers purchased about 3 per cent of homes between June 10 and June 29, a rate similar to the 4-per-cent tracked in New York State, according to figures released last month by the National Association of Realtors in the United States. Mr. de Jong’s office said the province had no comparative data from other parts of Canada, but official statistics released earlier this year found foreigners owned 3.3 per cent of of all condos in Greater Toronto, slightly down from 3.5 per cent in Metro Vancouver.

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