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The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

bloomberg.com

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Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#31

Post by Apocryphon »

lpaone wrote: post #30

What isn't talked about in this article is the effect this is having on the other industries in the city aside from real estate. I believe that Vancouver has potential to be THE tech hub in Canada. Unfortunately, wages are very low compared to the cost of housing, and so the cost of living is super high. Combine that with extremely low vacancy rates, and it is very hard to attract talent from out of town. In fact, ma…

Perhaps Montreal can do the same, if the city finds some way to sidestep the provincial language laws.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#32

Post by dgrant »

thinkingkong wrote: post #26

The interesting parts about foreign buyers is that the best story always seems to highlight the super rich, but its not like mansions are the only things going up in price. I'm sure that a price increase in land results in a "rising tide" effect for all homes, but because someone is willing to spend 64M on a mansion, does it mean condo's should be worth more too? The city is pretty, but there aren't exactly a massive…

I agree, this bothers me as well; the mansions seem to get way more press than they deserve.

What gets under-reported is:

-the non-foreigner/non-Chinese/locals that are hanging on to 2-3 properties -the person who can now afford that $1 million condo because they just sold their smaller condo for $500,000 and netted $250,000. -the fact that interest rates are at the lowest ever and some years ago amortization periods were pushed up to 40 years and down payments of 0-5% were allowed.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#33

Post by dottedmag »

> The 31-year-old paralegal and her husband, an apprentice plumber, live in a two-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot (111-square-meter) apartment

They can't afford kids? I have lived in 83-square-meter apartment with my wife and two kids and a I had a friggin' separate home office room to work from home. It wasn't ideal (we have moved when the youngest turned 5, so we wanted to give them separate bedrooms), but it worked pretty well. Granted, it was in Norway, not US, but one can't help thinking that people just don't know how to use the space they have.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#34

Post by Mikeb85 »

lpaone wrote: post #30

What isn't talked about in this article is the effect this is having on the other industries in the city aside from real estate. I believe that Vancouver has potential to be THE tech hub in Canada. Unfortunately, wages are very low compared to the cost of housing, and so the cost of living is super high. Combine that with extremely low vacancy rates, and it is very hard to attract talent from out of town. In fact, ma…

Unfortunately in Canada we've gone for easy money (real estate in Vancouver, oil in Alberta) before trying to establish actual industries. We'd rather just grab US and Chinese cash then vacation in Mexico than actually work.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#35

Post by Mikeb85 »

Apocryphon wrote: post #31
lpaone wrote: post #30

What isn't talked about in this article is the effect this is having on the other industries in the city aside from real estate. I believe that Vancouver has potential to be THE tech hub in Canada. Unfortunately, wages are very low compared to the cost of housing, and so the cost of living is super high. Combine that with extremely low vacancy rates, and it is very hard to attract talent from out of town. In fact, ma…

Perhaps Montreal can do the same, if the city finds some way to sidestep the provincial language laws.

Nothing wrong with language laws, people just need to stop being lazy. Learning a second language isn't that hard.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#36

Post by flukus »

happyslobro wrote: post #8

I think that the real problem is that so many people are trying to concentrate into the densest areas. That creates huge pressures, which are reflected in the price of space. Take a look at the cities with populations below 100K. You will find lots of people who live great lives, despite not being rich. For those of us who grew up in these little island towns, living in a place like Vancouver is downright depressing,…

Those sorts of cities don't generally have large apartment blocks so you don't get the benefits of density.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#37

Post by rz2k »

lpaone wrote: post #30

What isn't talked about in this article is the effect this is having on the other industries in the city aside from real estate. I believe that Vancouver has potential to be THE tech hub in Canada. Unfortunately, wages are very low compared to the cost of housing, and so the cost of living is super high. Combine that with extremely low vacancy rates, and it is very hard to attract talent from out of town. In fact, ma…

Introduction of a gradual increase in property taxes, as well as a gradual decease in income taxes, even lower than zero if appropriate, would be the naïve, straightforward economic policy recommendation if the problem has been accurately described. Some details yo resolve would be the numerous people who were using their primary residence as their main investment for retirement, and deciding how to handle people who were improving properties in order to make a living.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#38

Post by eyqs »

dottedmag wrote: post #33

> The 31-year-old paralegal and her husband, an apprentice plumber, live in a two-bedroom, 1,200-square-foot (111-square-meter) apartment They can't afford kids? I have lived in 83-square-meter apartment with my wife and two kids and a I had a friggin' separate home office room to work from home. It wasn't ideal (we have moved when the youngest turned 5, so we wanted to give them separate bedrooms), but it worked pre…

It's the bigger home with a bit of green space that they can't afford. You might be able to squeeze in a kid or two anywhere, but as you said, it wouldn't be ideal. I'm sure they're considering the trade-offs.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#39

Post by jimjimjim »

It's happening to countries all around the pacific rim (well, without being too rude, all the stable countries).

Chinese money is land-banking in Vancouver, US north west, Australia, and Auckland in nz.

and countries don't dear stop it because it will tank the real-estate bubble too quickly (it'll go before the tech bubble anyway). But if it does it will actually be good for the economies because capital tied up in unused land is worthless to the economy.

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