Many wealthy Chinese businessmen are buying luxury real estate in Vancouver, stimulating the sale of prime property in the British Columbia housing market.
One of them, Mailin Chen from mainland China, who owns the Vancouver-based company Chunghwa Investment Co. Ltd. (Canada), purchased the Point Grey mansion in mid-December.
The lavish house with a 10-car garage was owned by Don Mattrick, the CEO of social gaming company Zynga and former head of Xbox at Microsoft, and his wife, Nanon De Gaspé Beaubien-Mattrick, a tech investor and heiress to a Canadian telecom fortune.
The National Post said that the Point Grey mansion is the latest addition to luxury real-estate acquisitions made by wealthy Chinese businessmen in Lower Vancouver.
Land title documents also showed that Chen bought and sold other luxury properties in Metro Vancouver, including the $10.5-million Shaughnessy home at Laurier Avenue, which Chen later sold to Ling Xu, a restaurateur, in December.
The Drummond Drive sale, considered high in the list in the British Columbia housing market, has also attracted the interest of buyers from mainland China. Many of these Chinese nationals are eligible for a 10-year, multiple-entry Canadian visa, with greater capability to travel and buy property in the country.
Real-estate agents reported that 118 houses were sold last month in West Vancouver, an increase of 87 percent, or equivalent to 63 houses sold in 2013.
Clarence Debelle, a real-estate agent of Royal Pacific Realty, said that 75 percent of homes valued $4 million and up were sold to some wealthy Chinese businessmen.
The report said that many of these Chinese businessmen reside in Canada with money overseas and other are from China who are planning to buy a house in the country.
Low interest rates and the decline of Canadian dollar have encouraged many Chinese businessmen to invest in real-estate property as an investment, the report added.
Canada has no law on foreign ownership of real estate and does not monitor purchases.