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

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 6:29 AM UTC

bookofsand wrote: post #84

fastball wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Indonesia, only citizens or businesses with part ownership by citizens are allowed to own property, and I think this is probably the right way to go for most other countries as well. Unlike the vast majority of other human endeavors, land actually is a zero sum game, at least until we are a space-faring species.

Even if we become a space faring species, land will still be a zero sum game. * Within the Solar System the amount of land available on bodies with not-crushing-gravity is limited to a few times the Earth surface. This includes hospitable bodies like Venus, Titan or the Moon. The entire area of Mars is slightly smaller than Earth's land area, with climate conditions significantly worse than Antarctica. Sobering map:…

Post by seanmcdirmid » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 6:35 AM UTC

spfzero wrote: post #63

wyck wrote: post #42

This isn't new, nor is it only related to China. Mexico, Russia, many middle east countries, and whole slew of other places has poured billions of cash into Canadian real estate. It's done via regulated banks who turn a blind eye because there nothing illegal about how it's being done. The are skyrises being built in every major city in which 95% of the tenants are not Canadian, and they sit practically empty. Some c…

Western real estate is the new gold. It's protected by the entrenched lawful property rights of western countries, so money made in countries without those rights are going to flow in. Think about it. If you had made a few million based on your having positional power in a country where you would be jailed or killed once people found out what you had been doing, you'd get the money out to somewhere your descendants w…

Post by karmasimida » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 6:47 AM UTC

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?

Post by Mandatum » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 7:04 AM UTC

cheesecake_luvr wrote: post #91

teruakohatu wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. In 2019-2020 just 38 of this class of visa was approved, which seems to be about the average per year over the last decade. It was just 16 in 2020-2021. I don't think these people are buying decrepit Auckland villas, two bedroom semi-detached or tiny one bedroom ap…

You may be right for that class of visa, but there are many others: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/options/li... . And yes, the prices can be driven up by cheap loans, but from memory they were already rising steadily before the covid stimulus measures. I am still unconvinced that there exists in NZ a mechanism that can generate so much money and drive up the prices to these levels. Haven't been ba…

Post by TheGigaChad » Fri, Jul 30, 2021, 7:10 AM UTC

anovikov wrote: post #80

redisman wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If idiots want to pour their millions into worthless concrete to inevitably lose everything when the wave of free money from central banks recedes, leaving innumerous almost free homes in the market for everyone to buy - why any sane person should object? Because everything you said is completely wrong and it takes the already extremely tight housing market to an absurd extreme where no ordinary person can purchase…

Then again - if people are moving in to already tight place, who is to blame? What are the probable ways of "tackling" it you suggest? Soviet-style "closing" of a place where the Party will decide if you are eligible to buy? This is how they prevented Moscow from overpopulating in the Soviet Union, resulting in doubling the population in the decade once barrier fell with the end of Communism. If anything, it's a sour…