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Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

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Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#161

Post by Wohlf »

tomrod wrote: post #61
user3939382 wrote: post #53

Related, I’m concerned about the trend of megacorporations gobbling up single-family homes which appears to be happening in the US and Canada. I wonder if it’s possible to construct a law that would limit corporate ability to acquire these assets while making it possible for families to do so. Unfortunately, even if there is, politicians at least in DC seem to have zero motivation to solve political problems unless t…

Triple or quadruple property taxes after the 10th purchased residence in the state. Encourage tax breaks through high density development of condos with coop property management firms.

Pretty sure this would just drive up rental costs.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#164

Post by sokoloff »

nameisname wrote: post #139
hkt wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how it works in Canada, but in the UK the incentive is that most estate agents take a % of the sale value. They have every reason to push house prices higher. Cartel or no cartel, it is very harmful.

This is how it works in Canada and it's absolutely toxic. I have seen Realtors push people up on price when they're the highest bid.

The Realtors are (transparently disclosed as) working for the seller. Why wouldn't they do that? It's literally their job and everyone knows it.

It's certainly the case that the agent who knows that a particular bidder is the highest/most attractive offer is working for the seller.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#165

Post by philliphaydon »

When ever this topic comes on people are like “ohh it doesn’t work”

Well it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t work. It’s stopping something that shouldn’t be allowed to begin with.

In NZ you could go on a website and buy a house despite the fact you had never set foot in the country.

Even if this is only 5% of all buyers they are ruining the market for 90% of buyers because they cause prices to go up when they pay above market rates because they are wealthy.

The irony of this is if you’re from Thailand, Japan, China, India, etc. you can buy property in NZ. But I cannot buy property in these countries.

Thankfully NZ put a stop to this. And I believe 2022 saw the first actual drop in prices. Maybe one day I can afford to buy a property in NZ.

Edit: someone replied pointing out you can buy property in China which is correct. If you live and work in China you can buy but you’re limited to 1 property and I believe you need to sell if you leave China.

Thailand you can kinda buy but it’s done by a company that buys for you and you pay them a fee so technically they own it.

Japan I don’t really know. All countries in asia are different but it’s all better than what was allowed in NZ.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#166

Post by jejeyyy77 »

foldor wrote: post #131
koolba wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMHO blind bidding is an unethical practice that should be outlawed regardless of its impact on housing prices. Why? There’s no special virtue ascribed to the purchaser v.s. the seller. Nothing stops the purchasers from standing in front of the property and publicly announcing their bids (outside of game theory). If they’re bidding less than they are willing to pay, then de facto they’re low balling the seller. The…

The theory of that, and the reality of it are two different things. As someone who has been on both sides of this in Ontario, I can tell you for a fact that blind bidding results in people over paying, and never knowing by how much. The stress of buying a home in the GTA has lead people to stretch their budgets beyond reasonable limits, and realtors have only made it worse now. In recent years it's started to become…

This is wrong on a few levels.

1) as someone who has been on the ground as well, I’ve lost a few offers because I was worried about over paying. On multiple occasions, after seeing what it sold for we thought “damn, we woulda paid another $25K on top to get it had we known.”

2) Canadian banks has a very conservative “stress test” for securing mortgages. This includes qualifying at much higher rates then is being offered. Therefore it isn’t possible to “stretch yourself beyond any reasonable limits”

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#167

Post by jusssi »

foldor wrote: post #131
koolba wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMHO blind bidding is an unethical practice that should be outlawed regardless of its impact on housing prices. Why? There’s no special virtue ascribed to the purchaser v.s. the seller. Nothing stops the purchasers from standing in front of the property and publicly announcing their bids (outside of game theory). If they’re bidding less than they are willing to pay, then de facto they’re low balling the seller. The…

The theory of that, and the reality of it are two different things. As someone who has been on both sides of this in Ontario, I can tell you for a fact that blind bidding results in people over paying, and never knowing by how much. The stress of buying a home in the GTA has lead people to stretch their budgets beyond reasonable limits, and realtors have only made it worse now. In recent years it's started to become…

The question is, would an open auction be any better? The process will just happen at smaller increments. And you will have ghost bids to prop up the prices.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#168

Post by JSavageOne »

Here are some suggestions for improving housing affordability

- Land value tax. This incentivizes more efficient land use, such as building denser housing units (eg. apartments) and less wasted space like giant outdoor parking lots - Tax on non-primary residence - Tax on foreign home buyers - Build more housing. I'm not familiar with Canada, but the U.S has many issues with overly restrictive zoning laws preventing the building of affordable housing. Also public housing gets a bad rep, but it works pretty well in Singapore, Korea, Japan, etc.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#169

Post by goodpoint »

hrdwdmrbl wrote: post #90
Bilal_io wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, and I honestly wish there were measures to fine owners that have empty homes as well. Many people would disagree with me, but to me it's not about economics. We need a way to fight the idea of hoarding homes, a basic human right, as being an "investment".

If there was enough supply there wouldn't be a problem. No one hoards cars, boats, airplanes or anything else because they think that they can corner the market and raise prices. Housing is only special because not enough is built. It's only possible to "hoard" because every 1 off the market is less for everyone else. A fixed pie. Like bitcoin. If the bitcoin supply was infinite no one would think about collecting th…

Houses are non-fungible, making the whole comparison absurd. They occupy 3D space in a fixed location.

Until we develop Star Trek teleportation I cannot replace my apartment with a cheaper one 1000km away.

That's why hoarding real estate is exploitation of people's basic needs.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#170

Post by adamwathan »

foldor wrote: post #131
koolba wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> IMHO blind bidding is an unethical practice that should be outlawed regardless of its impact on housing prices. Why? There’s no special virtue ascribed to the purchaser v.s. the seller. Nothing stops the purchasers from standing in front of the property and publicly announcing their bids (outside of game theory). If they’re bidding less than they are willing to pay, then de facto they’re low balling the seller. The…

The theory of that, and the reality of it are two different things. As someone who has been on both sides of this in Ontario, I can tell you for a fact that blind bidding results in people over paying, and never knowing by how much. The stress of buying a home in the GTA has lead people to stretch their budgets beyond reasonable limits, and realtors have only made it worse now. In recent years it's started to become…

Yep, house on my street was listed for $950k a few weeks ago and sold for almost $1.4m. In my area (Kitchener/Waterloo), every house is selling for $250k-$500k above asking.
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