$5 billion laundered through B.C. real estate in 2018, drove up home prices
VICTORIA — A report that estimates $5 billion was laundered through British Columbia’s real estate market last year also lifts the lid on the extent of illegal cash moving across Canada.
Some $7.4 billion overall was laundered in B.C. in 2018, out of an estimated total of $47 billion in Canada, concluded the report by an expert panel led by former B.C. deputy attorney general Maureen Maloney.
The report is one of two released Thursday and says B.C. ranks fourth for money laundering among a division of six regions in Canada, behind Alberta, Ontario and the Prairies — collectively Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
The report says the higher estimates of money laundering in Alberta and the Prairies may be “surprising,” but crime rates are rising in those provinces and illegal cash finds homes in jurisdictions where real estate is more affordable than B.C.