Chinese Spreading Wealth Make Vancouver Homes Pricier Than NYC

And the bubble keeps inflating. Found via The Corner of Berkshire & Fairfax.

May 17 (Bloomberg) -- Vancouver’s Royal Pacific Realty had such a surge of business during the first two weeks of February that agents and assistants worked day and night shifts to find homes for Chinese buyers visiting during the Lunar New Year.

“It was unprecedented,” said Royal Pacific Chief Executive Officer David Choi. “I called them sleepwalkers.”

Sales of detached homes, townhouses and condominiums in metropolitan Vancouver jumped 70 percent in February from January, to 3,097 units from 1,819, and were up 25 percent from a year earlier, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. In March, sales climbed 32 percent from February, to just shy of a record for the month of 4,371 transactions set in 2004. Sales increased by 80 percent from two years ago.

Buyers from mainland China are leading a wave of Asian investment in Vancouver real estate as China tries to damp property speculation at home.