Foreign investors to flood housing markets?

Many of Canada’s foreign investors hail from China, but political uncertainty in other parts of the world could bring a wave of investment from two countries in particular.

Many of Canada’s foreign investors hail from China, but political uncertainty in other parts of the world could bring a wave of investment from two countries in particular.

Dr. Sherry Cooper, chief economist with Dominion Lending Centres told MortgageBrokerNews.ca that, due to political uncertainty in Russia and Greece, nationals from both of those countries are expected to move their money out-of-country and into the Canadian real estate market.

And brokers are already receiving inquiries.

“I’m getting calls and emails from people in Greece that are transferring here and they want direction; how much money is going to flow into here?” John Panagakos of Dominion Lending Centres Home Financial told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “We know billions of dollars is leaving the country every week because of uncertainty and where that money is going we don’t know.

“For Greek nationals, the Canadian real estate market is a safe place (to invest).”

Greece is heavily indebted to the Eurozone countries, the European Central Bank and the IMF to the tune of €110 billion for a bailout loan issued in 2010.

And On Tuesday, Greece released a reform proposal to pay back the debt within four months; however, the plan is already being criticized by the IMF, despite winning approval from Eurozone ministers.

This means uncertainty will still prevail and many Greek nationals will aim to move their money out of the floundering economy.

“It could end up in Canada or nearby European countries – safe havens. But there are a lot of people, because of the austerity measures, that are leaving Greece for their families’ sake,” Panagakos said. “I had a couple last week that are bringing money over. I have another engineer who called and asked for direction. It’s happening.”