This is virtue signalling from the Liberals. It is a known fact here in Canada that the foreign buyers have anchor proxies as international students who drives Porsche buying up a lot of homes in Canada so that they can "study in peace and quiet of a detached home". Toronto, Montreal and especially Vancouver. This ban is not going to fix anything.
Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
261–270 of 1001 posts
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#262When 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 m…
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Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why should investment properties be taxed worse than say, stocks Because they are a fundamental human need, and in limited supply. Good land is fundamentally limited. You can't build more of it.
> they are a fundamental human need shelter is a fundamental need, not the desire to own an asset. You do not need to purchase, as renting is much cheaper (esp. at current asset prices). And while you cannot create more land (tho tell the dutch that!), you can build more dense. And in an area of growing population, this might be a good solution, as demonstrated in many other cities. However, people who would prefer a…
> you can build more dense. And in an area of growing population, this might be a good solution, as demonstrated in many other cities.
All the places I’ve lived with growing populations recently have taught me they will probably do the opposite.
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#264Im one of those 'greedy' old farts who owns more than one home. We have one for ourselves and 5 rentals. Im starting to agree with those who are feeling priced out of the market. What would make me stop buying homes? A graduated tax would. If there were no sales tax on the first two, and then 15% tax on the third, 25% tax on the 4th, and going up by 10% for each subsequent house, it would definitely make me quit buyi…
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It's not unreasonable to want to protect your hard-earned money. Inflation forces people to invest in assets. We have reached a point where everything is overpriced (stocks, homes, etc.) and inflation is rampant. So unless you want to have less purchasing power than you did last year, you invest in what you think gives the best return.
Placing the burden on the individual to "do the right thing" is scapegoating in the same way that it's common to ask people to use less energy to fight global warming. Individuals going about their life are not the problem.
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#265Canada has more housing supply per-capita than the US and many other western countries, but housing prices that are multiples higher (when adjusted for household income). Many analysts have pointed out that Canada in general does not have a housing supply problem. Or not a particularly bad one. What we have is a more generalized housing market problem: bad or badly regulated realtor practices, excessively low interes…
Canada's housing supply is not necessarily distributed in a way that serves the populace well however.
My understanding is that if you want to live in SK, yeah that's pretty cheap. But if you want to live around Vancouver or Toronto, you gotta pony up.
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#266Earlier quoted context omitted.
The one advantage of blind bidding is the slowness. You’re able to consult with everyone you need to between bids. In a live auction you might not get to call your family before having to decide if you want to go $10k higher. Even if your wife is there you don’t have time for an extended discussion on whether it’s worthwhile.
This makes me wonder why not just use a one-time second price auction? In that case everyone just needs to huddle up with their family once, submit their maximum price for the house, and know that they won't have a risk of over-paying relative to everyone else's valuation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickrey_auction
I would guess most sellers would not want to do this
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#267Turning housing into an investment seems like it was a uniquely bad idea.
This. The only real solution is to implement policies that make housing prices not appreciate so it's not tempting as an investment in the first place.
Current attempts to fix the problem are doomed to failure because they are trying to avoid 1) significantly increasing the supply of housing and 2) decreasing the value of houses for people who already own them, but those are the things that are actually causing the problem.
Trying to block foreign investors is just a bandaid and it will make no difference. Housing needs to be a depreciating asset.
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#268Canada has more housing supply per-capita than the US and many other western countries, but housing prices that are multiples higher (when adjusted for household income). Many analysts have pointed out that Canada in general does not have a housing supply problem. Or not a particularly bad one. What we have is a more generalized housing market problem: bad or badly regulated realtor practices, excessively low interes…
Canada's housing supply is not necessarily distributed in a way that serves the populace well however. My understanding is that if you want to live in SK, yeah that's pretty cheap. But if you want to live around Vancouver or Toronto, you gotta pony up.
That's become markedly less so in the last two year. Alberta and Saskatchewan, yes, were cheap because oil prices were so depressed for the last 7-8 years. But the rest of the country, even economically beat down areas like the maritimes, have risen drastically. Rural Ontario has skyrocketed. Forget about anywhere in BC. Nova Scotia prices have almost doubled.
There is net migration out of Toronto and Vancouver. Prices have risen highest in formerly depressed areas like Hamilton, etc.
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#269I'm a homeowner in Toronto and I don't think this will help. They've eliminated a small number of buyers from the market but have added other incentives like a first home buyers tax credit that will only fuel the fire - Australia tried this with tragic results. >> working with provinces and territories to develop and implement a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and bring forward a national plan to end blind bidding. Blind…
The question is why does something like blind bidding exist in real estate? It could exist in all sorts of places but doesn't. Imagine blind bidding when interviewing for a job. Write down the number you'd be willing to do the job for. Someone came in with a lower number, please resubmit. These weird market distortions in real estate have underlying causes. A lot of them are based off patchwork rules and regulations…
>Imagine blind bidding when interviewing for a job. Write down the number you'd be willing to do the job for. Someone came in with a lower number, please resubmit.
This is how it works in the trades, for contractors, and some small company employees. I've Never Been Told what past applicants for a job position asked for salary and were denied
Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
I saw an Australian sitcom where the house went up for auction. It was a proper live auction where everyone showed up to bid on the house. I was flabbergasted as I had no idea things were done in any other way than blind bidding as that is how it is always done here in the US.
In Melbourne, this is totally normal. Everyone stands in the street, prospective buyers, neighbours, and people starting their house search. The estate agent stands on the front step, acting as the auctioneer, using the rolled up "Section 32" document like a gavel. Typically the auctioneer draws out bids in $10-20k increments, then knocks it down with a "going once, going twice, going three times..." call. Just befor…
I got stressed just reading that. Can’t imagine living it!