Foreign buyers spent more than 885 million Canadian dollars (671 million U.S. dollars) on Metro Vancouver real estate in just five weeks, new data released Tuesday by the government of British Columbia show.

The amount of money accounts for nearly 10 percent of the value of all real estate deals in Greater Vancouver between June 10 and July 14, according to the data.

The cities of Burnaby and Richmond had the highest number of foreign real estate transactions (18 percent of the value), compared with 11 percent in the City of Vancouver.

Local residents complain about the surging housing prices and blame foreign capital for that, pressing the government to take tough measures to curb foreign investment in real estate market.

As of Aug. 2, British Columbia will charge a new 15-percent property transfer tax on foreign buyers within the Metro Vancouver region, for residential homes, excluding commercial buildings. Endi

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