Are there examples of very lightly regulated housing markets in developed countries? Does that really lead to bad things like people say? I know it can cause slums in poor countries. But would California or Vancouver somehow fail if they allowed unlimited high density construction and development in what's currently undeveloped land? Are there examples of that happening before?
The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
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Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#82The 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…
Yep. These are also the people causing housing price rises by voting for local governments that'll protect their investments and disallow more rapid new construction or smaller lot sizes.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#83Very surprised Bloomberg would put out such a fluff piece about the Vancouver Real Estate market. There are very serious issues in Vancouver, and some suspect Canada is in for a ruder awakening than the US. http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/meet-the-wall-street-short-se... 1) Canadian Real Estate is being used as a money laundering facility http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/ike-awgu/canadian-real-estate-f... . 2) Canada also…
Fluff piece? Did we read the same article? It covered at length the issue of the young couple essentially trapped in Surrey, unable to get enough space to have a child.
The author really went out of the way to emphasize the wealth of the investors, describing the buyer wanting a nonexistent car. The only remotely fluffy portion was describing the ecosystem of luxury services associated with the lavish spending. I think the article did a good job of conveying the huge negative effect to the Vancouver economy and way of life.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#84What 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.
> We'd rather just grab US and Chinese cash then vacation in Mexico than actually work.
That's hardly unique to Canada. It's the default human state to prioritise short-term gains. See e.g. the phenomenon of obesity.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Apprendre une deuxième langue n'est pas le problème, mais la Loi 101 derange beaucoup de gens
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Investors who rent out their properties might change the price:rent ratio, but they don't contribute to the housing shortage.
They contribute to the issue of renters being unable to buy. Each of those standalone houses are not available for purchase that otherwise would have been, unless the investor bought the land, applied for residential zoning, and built the property.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nothing wrong with language laws, people just need to stop being lazy. Learning a second language isn't that hard.
It's still a big effort, learning a language properly is not something you do for 2 hours on the weekend and get proficient at it. Even more so if you don't plan to use that language for anything else afterwards. It isn't that hard but isn't that easy either.
> It's still a big effort, learning a language properly is not something you do for 2 hours on the weekend and get proficient at it.
There's a big difference between being really proficient and knowing enough to be productive. In any case, like other skills, everyone gets better by actually doing it, but they need to start first.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#88There are some simple fixes to people's issues. 1) Charge more for everything 2) If you cannot get a good deal, then leave. 3) Stop playing games where you sacrifice yourself trying to compete against people who sacrifice very little but have much. These billionaires are flippant about these things because it cost them nothing (personally) to get the wealth. When you make $64M a year, a $4M condo is nothing. But when…
Great, tell my relatives to say goodbye to their elderly parents they support. Also tell them to leave their clients behind. Oh! And hurt their school-age children socially by moving them to a different region.
Not all people have the same mobility that you do. This is a situation that many people need to stand and address, not vote with their feet.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#89It's happening in Australia too, but the few people willing to talk about it are crucified by the PC brigade.
The SMH and West Australian publish articles about Chinese real estate purchases every week. This is an oft-discussed issue.
Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with you that there should be restrictions on foreign investors looking to housing as investment. . . at the same time, I am worried that they are being used as scapegoats to avoid addressing much larger structural economic and legislative problems behind the inflationary price increase. In fact I think these foreign investors are more being attracted by the already inflating prices than actually the culprit…
>Being used as scapegoats That's what it looks like for me with the Australian housing market where the Chinese are being blamed for increasing prices. China is the biggest foreign investor in the Australian housing market followed by the US with $12 billion out of $34 billion foreign investment in 2013-14 [1], but it can't be the only explanation. As a non-permanent resident you can only buy from the plan, no 'used'…
One can look at the high rents in Sidney to verify the issue there is primarily supply.