Foreigners bought flooded BC’s land titles office with more than $850-million in purchases on the final business day before a new tax on foreign buyers took effect, followed by a month in which sales to non-Canadians all but dried up.

BC’s Finance Ministry released new data on Thursday that show the prevalence of foreign buyers in the market in the weeks leading up to the tax’s implementation on Aug. 2, as well as what happened in the subsequent month.

A ministry statement says that on July 29, the last business day before property transactions could be registered before the tax took effect, 55% of all residential property deals in Metro Vancouver involved foreign nationals.

The statement says more than $850 million worth of property transactions involving foreign nationals were registered at the land titles office on July 29.

But ministry numbers also show declines in real estate transactions involving foreign nationals since the introduction of the foreign buyers tax.

The figures indicate 1,974 property deals in Metro Vancouver involving foreign buyers from June 10 to Aug. 1, but that number dips to 60 property transactions involving foreign buyers from Aug. 2 to 31.

Data Shows Drop in BC Foreign Property Buyers Since Targeted Tax by The Canadian Press