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Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

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Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#51

Post by BelenusMordred »

sunstone wrote: post #11
tolbish wrote: post #3

Should housing be a primary vehicle for investment and the de facto way of making money? Or should it serve as a necessity and basic aspect of life?

In Australia if I recall correctly, foreign buyers are only able to buy newly built homes. Canada would benefit from a similar rule, it would stimulate more housing and not impact the demand for existing homes.

> foreign buyers are only able to buy newly built homes

In theory, yes, in reality the largest single residential purchase in the country was $35m and splashed all over the front page of newspapers.

It took them 5 years later to realise it was an illegal purchase by a foreigner after he had a different dispute with the tax office.

If that sale slips through what hope do you actually have for any others?

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#52

Post by rishav_sharan »

fredophile wrote: post #30
gota wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to the punitive taxes for unnocupied homes I read about a couple of years ago? If I recall it was a "tax" 1% of the property value every month after the first 12 of vacancy I can't imagine that going into effect and rent/house prices _not_ going down

That tax applies to the city of Vancouver. Most houses in Canada are outside of Vancouver.

Did it have any effect? From what I hear, Vancouver has one of the costliest real state markets in Canada

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#53

Post by titzer »

samingrassia wrote: post #23

When the fed suppresses interest rates and back stops the mortgage market, residential realestate starts to look like risk free treasuries with a ~9% yield.

If it looks like either the stock market or the housing market is about to crash, the fed will print unlimited amounts of money to prevent that.

The only problem is that the rational action with that knowledge is to buy in as soon as possible, with all your cash, thereby making the bubble even bigger. It's a death spiral of inflation.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#54

Post by cheesecake_luvr »

teruakohatu wrote: post #17

New Zealand has a similar housing problem. House prices are skyrocketing and pricing out young people. A 25-30% rise in the past year has meant few people are saving fast enough to get a deposit. But two or three years ago the govt. banned overseas buyers. There is no reason to suggest the ban is not effective. It even bans non-permanent residents, so plenty of legitimate residents (work visas) can't purchase propert…

Overseas buyers just get permanent residency and citizenship and buy houses. A few years ago you just needed ~$NZ5m invested in the country and you get permanent residency. There is no way the prices are driven by domestic money.

My factory supervisor brother has a house in Mangere Bridge, a blue-collar suburb, built for ~$100k 20 years ago is now well over $1m. It is batshit crazy. I hear of eye-watering prices in Manurewa, Otahuhu, Papakura.

Edit: https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/real-estate/1254756.... Jesus the median is now $1.14m.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#55

Post by robjan »

msie wrote: post #44

House prices were soaring in Canada during the pandemic and the media couldn’t blame foreigners for once because of travel restrictions. Also the news reported on the rise of anti-asian racism. They should look in the mirror for blaming high r.e. prices on foreigners when it was proven that they only made up a small percentage of the market.

Most overseas buyers don't actually visit the property before buying it. In fact, it's pretty common to buy a property before it's even built.

I live in HK and receive brochures every few days for foreign property in Canada, the UK and Australia. If you have the cash, you can pretty much visit the agent and buy the place on the spot.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#57

Post by jeffbee »

sk0g wrote: post #33
jeffbee wrote: post #18

An irrelevant sideshow. If they made housing plentiful and cheap then nobody would buy it for any reason other than shelter.

> If they made housing plentiful and cheap then nobody would buy it for any reason other than shelter Do you feel that's a bad outcome? The phrasing suggests so, interested in why you feel that way.

No, it's the ideal outcome. Housing should not be an investment. You should just live in it and it depreciates. People should be able to make normal profits by building new ones. Nobody should profit from buying and selling old ones.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#58

Post by spfzero »

teruakohatu wrote: post #17

New Zealand has a similar housing problem. House prices are skyrocketing and pricing out young people. A 25-30% rise in the past year has meant few people are saving fast enough to get a deposit. But two or three years ago the govt. banned overseas buyers. There is no reason to suggest the ban is not effective. It even bans non-permanent residents, so plenty of legitimate residents (work visas) can't purchase propert…

So your theory is that the contained, stable number of housing buyers just decided to start paying 30% more?

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#59

Post by spfzero »

exporectomy wrote: post #21
sunstone wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Australia if I recall correctly, foreign buyers are only able to buy newly built homes. Canada would benefit from a similar rule, it would stimulate more housing and not impact the demand for existing homes.

Isn't the problem in Australia (and New Zealand) mainly caused by first home buyers? They seem to pay the maximum the bank will lend them with no regard for being profitable or a good investment. Just get the best house possible at any cost. Once they own them, they fill them with lower occupancy than investors do, so the supply of housing effectively decreases. I'm one of those people. My house used to be a rental w…

The prices are not being driven up by buyers with 5% down payments. They are being driven up by 100% cash buyers, people moving cash across national boundaries. Just look at the percentage of "all-cash" offers. That tells the whole story.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#60

Post by crummy »

cheesecake_luvr wrote: post #54
teruakohatu wrote: post #17

New Zealand has a similar housing problem. House prices are skyrocketing and pricing out young people. A 25-30% rise in the past year has meant few people are saving fast enough to get a deposit. But two or three years ago the govt. banned overseas buyers. There is no reason to suggest the ban is not effective. It even bans non-permanent residents, so plenty of legitimate residents (work visas) can't purchase propert…

Overseas buyers just get permanent residency and citizenship and buy houses. A few years ago you just needed ~$NZ5m invested in the country and you get permanent residency. There is no way the prices are driven by domestic money. My factory supervisor brother has a house in Mangere Bridge, a blue-collar suburb, built for ~$100k 20 years ago is now well over $1m. It is batshit crazy. I hear of eye-watering prices in M…

You think the price of 500k houses has been driven to 1m thanks to people who can throw around 25m?
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