Justin Trudeau Vows Two-Year Ban on Foreign Home Buyers in Canada Election • Hacker News Board

Re: Justin Trudeau Vows Two-Year Ban on Foreign Home Buyers in Canada Election

#71

Post by mixmastamyk » Sat, Sep 18, 2021, 6:46 PM UTC

dontparticipate wrote: post #55

mixmastamyk wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t need data to prove basic economics at this point. The question left is, does it happen with enough frequency to be a major factor? I’m not that familiar with the market in Vancouver, however they did pass a law regarding vacancy I believe. Perhaps a local could chime in on efficacy.

As an economist, I would strongly object to the idea that data isn't needed to prove points. I've heard about the particular case of the Vancouver market being popular with overseas buyers, but that doesn't absolve anyone from quantifying it. The Vancouver specific reaction has been the "Empty Homes Tax" https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-t... And according to Vancouver again, while the tax di…

Didn’t mean to imply data is never needed. However there is more than one layer to the question.

Re: Justin Trudeau Vows Two-Year Ban on Foreign Home Buyers in Canada Election

#72

Post by krickkrack » Mon, Sep 20, 2021, 7:25 PM UTC

throw0101a wrote: post #52

krickkrack wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand that this is the narrative, but show me what markets specifically. Even if ownership is 10%. That means 90% of homes that are bought and sold are NOT to foreigners. The fact is that inflation has eroded away the value of $$ and houses that should cost $50,000 now cost $700k.

> The fact is that inflation has eroded away the value of $$ and houses that should cost $50,000 now cost $700k. There's a particular problem with that hypothesis: > Over the past 5 years, single-family home prices are up 150% in London-St. Thomas [Ontario], but down in Regina. They've barely budged in Edmonton. Monetary policy provides no explanation for that phenomenon. * https://twitter.com/MikePMoffatt/status/143…

>There's a particular problem with that hypothesis: >> Over the past 5 years, single-family home prices are up 150% in London-St. Thomas [Ontario], but down in Regina. They've barely budged in Edmonton. Monetary policy provides no explanation for that phenomenon.

In the short term effects other than those caused by monetary policy can be overwhelming (e.g., London-St.Thomas, has had a huge influx of people from Toronto over the last 5 years that would have driven up prices regardless of whatever the monetary policy may be). But this doesn't change the fact that the dollar has lost 95% of its purchasing power and that the average house price in the 1930s used to be 1X the average yearly salary, whereas now it's 12x.

Re: Justin Trudeau Vows Two-Year Ban on Foreign Home Buyers in Canada Election

#73

Post by exporectomy » Sat, Sep 25, 2021, 2:28 AM UTC

potatochup wrote: post #57

exporectomy wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not entirely. In NZ, people really favor single family homes near or in big cities. That just doesn't scale because of finite land. Nobody wants to settle for a duplex or worse, an apartment. Perhaps eventually prices for those high density homes will be stable and single-family-home owners will be super rich.

I don't know if the "most people want a single family home" thing is entirely accurate. Hobsonville Point is mostly terraced housing, duplexes and apartments and prices there are well above the surrounding mostly-single-family-home suburbs. I realize there are other reasons for high prices, like local schools, age of housing, etc, but I think it shows that the demand for medium density is there. It's just no one has…

Perhaps Auckland has already reached the point where people have stopped caring and downgraded their expectations. Actually, Wellington too seems to recently have prices for attached townhouses approaching those of SFHs. A couple of years ago, the ratio of the two types of prices was greater.