The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires • Hacker News Board

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

#191

Post by ArnoldP » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 4:25 PM UTC

cvinson wrote: post #129

Mikeb85 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Try having a startup in Montreal. Our has been targeted by the language police, and is being forced to translate not just our front end, but our blog and social media presences. It doesn't matter that 0.01% of customers are in Quebec, and that we have determined that there is no market for our product in french. Anyone can send an anonymous message to this government agency and it will audit your business to make sur…

My understanding is that you do have the right to know who complained about your compliance under Bill 101.

Anyways, I don't think it's asking much to have your website/blog/frontend in the language of the province where you operate, but the photocopier business, keyboards in french etc is ridiculous. Also it seems the language police always get more confident whenever a PQ government gets power.

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

#192

Post by mrec » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 4:33 PM UTC

branchless wrote: post #161

mrec wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely this. Please, please take him back. Seriously, we'll pay you, just take him back.

Please do not give Carnage back. We need him to implode The City.

How and why would he do that? By throwing vast sums of money at them at the drop of a hat?

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

#193

Post by acveilleux » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 4:45 PM UTC

delecti wrote: post #147

rz2k wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Is there any reason that property taxes couldn't be increased solely on homes without residents? It would at least encourage putting foreign owned homes on the rental market.

It's hard to define "no resident" and to effectively verify.

People would just hire someone or ask a relative to sign a lease and officially be "the resident" without actually having anyone live in the unit.

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

#194

Post by ijamj » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 4:47 PM UTC

msie wrote: post #158

I'm disgusted/saddened by the biased reporting that's taken place over this issue. This article points out how Bloomberg and other media are attracted to the "foreign buyers" narrative: http://www.straight.com/news/735161/revisiting-real-estate-r... Study finds foreign buyers impact Vancouver real estate but likely can't account for sky-high prices: http://www.straight.com/news/720471/study-finds-foreign-buye...

Not to mention perfectly valid non-speculative buyers.

Scenario for you: international student completed UBC and started working full-time on local tech company. After struggle to save, put a deposit on a place after saving from working part-time during later years of degree and about to close deal in a couple weeks (when new place is ready). Now, BAM! Gotta have to pony up 15% on home price agreed upon nearly a year earlier. More than original deposit! Tell me how that encourages qualified tech workers to stick around...

They aimed at a particular kind of "foreign buyers" in a crowd, but used a shotgun...

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

#195

Post by jellicle » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 4:54 PM UTC

MAGZine wrote: post #190

kejaed wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, how many people coming to Montreal would be happy that their kids could only go to school in French?

I don't speak French but would love to put my kids in a French-only school. They pretty much learn a second language for free. Why not?

If by "free" you mean "at the cost of learning anything else".

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

#196

Post by gmisra » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 4:59 PM UTC

A lot of commenters concerned about Bloomberg's potential editorial bias in running this piece, but it is interesting that it comes just a few days after they published "End of an Era as China’s Love Affair With U.S. Real Estate Fades"

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-26/end-of-an...

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

#197

Post by Mikeb85 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 5:03 PM UTC

jellicle wrote: post #195

MAGZine wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't speak French but would love to put my kids in a French-only school. They pretty much learn a second language for free. Why not?

If by "free" you mean "at the cost of learning anything else".

I went to French immersion in Canada. We didn't 'miss out' on anything that kids did in English school. They still had to take a second language class (we didn't since we already had English + French). We just had classes like science, math and social studies in French as well. We still learned English, and of course live in an English-speaking region, so we missed out on nothing.

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

#198

Post by acveilleux » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 5:05 PM UTC

49para wrote: post #183

mrtron wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you are saying, but so far things are going very well. By 2010 CMHC had an annual financial surplus of more than $2 billion.[6] CMHC is the largest Crown Corporation in terms of assets with some $26 billion in holdings as of 2008-2009. If you think this insurance can cause Canadian banks to be more risky in their lending - I don't think that is currently the case.

So $26B in holdings to insure $1.372T in outstanding mortgages, that seem pretty low but since the taxpayers will cover the rest, I guess it's fine to continue handing out subprime mortgages.

They don't insure the value of the mortgage, they insure the shortfall between what the lender recoup in foreclosure vs. the outstanding loan balance.

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

#199

Post by 1anh2kqowg » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 5:09 PM UTC

linkregister wrote: post #86

1anh2kqowg wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>They contribute to the issue of renters being unable to buy.

But on the other hand, they give renters a good deal. Buying at a high price:rent ratio means a low cap rate, which makes for a bad investment. So the landlord is essentially giving ownership returns to the renter, while keeping price risk themselves.

To the extent that rents are also high, this shows that the problem is not, in fact, investors but instead a limited supply of housing.

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

#200

Post by Mikeb85 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 5:17 PM UTC

cvinson wrote: post #129

Mikeb85 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Try having a startup in Montreal. Our has been targeted by the language police, and is being forced to translate not just our front end, but our blog and social media presences. It doesn't matter that 0.01% of customers are in Quebec, and that we have determined that there is no market for our product in french. Anyone can send an anonymous message to this government agency and it will audit your business to make sur…

Apart from the photocopier sticker, that seems pretty reasonable.

If you speak both languages (or have employees who do), how difficult is it anyway?