Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes • Hacker News Board

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#21

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:31 PM UTC

RandyRanderson wrote: post #6

The Canadian economy is almost entirely dependent on real estate[0][1]. It's almost a certainty that the Liberal government would never hurt that sector in any meaningful way. I'm guessing that they're run the numbers and they know this won't have any real effect (other than political points scoring). Most of the RE demand comes from immigration (in CA, currently more than 1%/year) - look at any country that has high…

That, or, like in the old country, the law to be passed will have built-in exceptions or riders that will be exploited on arrival. It is possible that I have become a little too cynical, but even if I thought it was a good idea ( I don't ), I just don't see it actually happen.

People with money will find a way in; like they always do.

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#22

Post by barbazoo » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:32 PM UTC

gareth_untether wrote: post #17

stephenhuey wrote: post #12

I’m mostly familiar with Vancouver since my wife has relatives there. About half a dozen years ago they imposed a 15% tax on foreign real estate investors. I heard 2015 figures suggesting foreign Chinese investors accounted for one third of the $29 billion market in 2015. Vancouver real estate prices had been rising a lot for a long time but I think they felt the foreign investors exacerbated the problem for locals,…

There's pretty tight rules about leaving properties empty. Daily fines in the thousands.

https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/empty-homes-t...

It looks like more in the "hundreds" given that it's 3%/year of the assessed value. But still, a good start I'd say.

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#23

Post by hengri » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:35 PM UTC

tqi wrote: post #15

VincentEvans wrote: post #7

I don’t know the specifics on Canadian real estate market and the specifics of the problems there, but based on my understanding of the problems facing your neighbors to the south - I feel like it’s almost an attempt to appease citizens by blaming the issue on “foreigners” (always a move that is popular with politicians) to redirect attention from the much more likely cause - massive investments made by hedge funds,…

> I feel like it’s almost an attempt to appease citizens by blaming the issue on “foreigners” (always a move that is popular with politicians) Yeah the Right loves to blame poor foreigners while the Left prefers to blame rich foreigners but at the end of the day they at least agree that it is never the voters themselves who are to blame.

It's low interest rates to blame

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#24

Post by barbazoo » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

mperham wrote: post #20

Liberal governments will do everything but the one thing that will solve the problem: make it much, much easier to actually build more housing. Everything else is just pointless busywork.

Not sure if you mean "liberal" or "Liberal" but in BC for instance the provincial government is considering overriding municipalities that are not approving enough residential development. I don't know how much the federal government can do here? I'd appreciate any insight.

https://globalnews.ca/news/8641905/bc-local-governments-hous...

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#25

Post by dsnr » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:38 PM UTC

mperham wrote: post #20

Liberal governments will do everything but the one thing that will solve the problem: make it much, much easier to actually build more housing. Everything else is just pointless busywork.

This is not really guaranteed to solve the problem. It will only be a part of the solution.

In many countries, including Europe, new properties are quickly snatched by investment companies that have much easier access to capital than private individuals and can easily afford to pay above market prices. People shouldn’t really have to compete with companies or “investors” on the housing market.

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#26

Post by MisterTea » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:39 PM UTC

mperham wrote: post #20

Liberal governments will do everything but the one thing that will solve the problem: make it much, much easier to actually build more housing. Everything else is just pointless busywork.

I'm sure the conservatives are equally responsible NIMBY's as well.

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#27

Post by VincentEvans » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

hengri wrote: post #23

tqi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like it’s almost an attempt to appease citizens by blaming the issue on “foreigners” (always a move that is popular with politicians) Yeah the Right loves to blame poor foreigners while the Left prefers to blame rich foreigners but at the end of the day they at least agree that it is never the voters themselves who are to blame.

It's low interest rates to blame

Which should’ve helped a whole bunch of hard-working regular people to buy their first-time homes, but that is not what is happening it seems?

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#28

Post by peepop6 » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

loceng wrote: post #8

This is nothing but pandering for votes before an election for those who don't understand this won't have any significant impact on affordability of houses for Canadians. There's a reason why we still also pay the highest telecommunications bills in the world - industrial complexes have captured our government, and even it's far worse that that; regulatory capture. Edit to add: 3 points down to 0 points; downvotes ar…

I know this is probably naive thinking but I don't understand how we can have so much land and still have unaffordable homes and concentrated populations.

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#29

Post by Spivak » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

tqi wrote: post #15

VincentEvans wrote: post #7

I don’t know the specifics on Canadian real estate market and the specifics of the problems there, but based on my understanding of the problems facing your neighbors to the south - I feel like it’s almost an attempt to appease citizens by blaming the issue on “foreigners” (always a move that is popular with politicians) to redirect attention from the much more likely cause - massive investments made by hedge funds,…

> I feel like it’s almost an attempt to appease citizens by blaming the issue on “foreigners” (always a move that is popular with politicians) Yeah the Right loves to blame poor foreigners while the Left prefers to blame rich foreigners but at the end of the day they at least agree that it is never the voters themselves who are to blame.

Weird, I know the left likes to blame the rich, but I’ve never seen specifically rich foreigners.

Also for real how can the voters (ie the average citizen) be the problem? The average citizen has no money and no political or regulatory power. The average citizen just exists in a system they have no control over and responds to incentives. Hoping that en mass people won’t do that is like politely asking a river to move.

Re: Canada to ban foreigners from buying homes

#30

Post by lucidguppy » Thu, Apr 07, 2022, 4:40 PM UTC

hengri wrote: post #23

tqi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like it’s almost an attempt to appease citizens by blaming the issue on “foreigners” (always a move that is popular with politicians) Yeah the Right loves to blame poor foreigners while the Left prefers to blame rich foreigners but at the end of the day they at least agree that it is never the voters themselves who are to blame.

It's low interest rates to blame

Its zoning and nimbyism.