Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

axios.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

861–870 of 1001 posts

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#861

Post by fratlas »

alistairSH wrote: post #374
fratlas wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are new systems to bid online, and over the course of a week. Much less stressful, no emotion and heat of the moment bidding. Nothing wrong with open bidding, all about the techniques used in person.

That still suffers from the stress at the end of the week. Say an auction closes at 5pm Friday... I bod $500k on Wednesday. Somebody bids $501 Friday 4:50. I bid 502... they 503, right up to the last moment. And if the site is like some online car auctions, any activity in the last 5 minutes extends the auction by another 5 minutes. So, 504... 505... and on up until somebody walks away. A home purchase is the largest…

In my experience it was less emotional than in person auctions I've attended. I knew my limit and stuck to it, there was no agent talking me into bidding higher.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#862

Post by jachee »

alistairSH wrote: post #796
jjav wrote: post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If developers build more luxury housing, that'll reduce the price of existing housing, such that it becomes affordable. Not really: Say there's one free acre of land in town. You could build one mansion on it, or a highrise with 100 apartments. Building the mansion isn't going to move the needle on any existing housing at all, as it's just one unit.

Except, in a competitive/expensive market, the developer will pick the high-rise (almost) every time when allowed by law. Locally, when I see people complain about luxury housing being built, it's because the developer is building high-spec townhomes and selling them for $800k+. Instead of lower-spec townhomes at $500k. The developer can't fit appreciably more homes in the same footprint (they're all 3-4 stories tall…

> The smaller house they vacated is now open for somebody else

Or, they didn’t sell it and are just seeking rent on it, now. For this effect to really work, the number of home-owners should equal the number of homes.

Right now, there are many, many fewer home-owners than homes.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#863

Post by Drew_ »

tomrod wrote: post #410
joejerryronnie wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would simply drive rents up across the board. Unintended consequences are the primary result of punitive tax measures.

Would you mind walking through your analysis?

They think these taxes will simply be passed onto renters just like the nominal taxes landlords already pay now.

The reality is that there is no market for renters that could actually afford these supposed monumental price hikes. So instead landlords would simply be forced to sell their houses, increasing the market supply and decreasing the cost of houses.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#864

Post by bcrl »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #426
alex_sf wrote: post #400

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is plenty of housing for plenty of people in most parts of North America. The 'problem' is that what people _want_ is cheap housing in urban centers, a.k.a cool spots. Because that doesn't exist, we claim to have a housing shortage.

People also want to live where the jobs are, which is increasingly in cities. I expect most small towns are going to die over the next few decades.

I live in a rural area with a small local town about an hour outside of Ottawa. Lots of rural houses are going up, as the hour drive is okay for the occasional commute. Nothing is being built in the town (which currently has about 350 dwellings). The problem? There is no local water / sewage system, and quite a few of the wells in town get contaminated with e-coli on a regular basis. Nobody wants to build a new subdivision in the town because it doesn't have the basic infrastructure need to support development.

The worst part of this is that the town has the money in the bank to build the water and sewage system. There's upwards of $8 million earmarked for the project. However, each homeowner is going to be responsible for $30k in hookup costs, and the town will have to shell out $500,000 per year to operate the new water system. Since it's a low income area, the >50% property tax increase needed to run the system won't fly, and neither will the hook-up costs. Instead, all the new builds are focused in rural areas where there is no infrastructure needed or in the larger towns / cities where costs are significantly higher but deemed to be an acceptable risk by developers.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#865

Post by s1artibartfast »

foldor wrote: post #365
djrogers wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The norm in Canada is 30 year term, with a variable rate. It's the second part that can really get you...

30 years hasn't been possible in Canada for several years now (thankfully).

Why is that a good thing?

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#866

Post by wbsss4412 »

sofixa wrote: post #776
wbsss4412 wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not sure that you’ve made the case that they are wrong strongly enough. Does France have heavy handed zoning and historic preservation policies? Sure. But you aren’t getting 5-6 story multi family buildings constructed at a face pace in major metro areas. In many places, such construction in prohibited entirely by also how family zoning. And while France may protect historic monuments like an old church. “Histori…

> But you aren’t getting 5-6 story multi family buildings constructed at a face pace in major metro areas. In many places, such construction in prohibited entirely by also how family zoning. Of course you are. Tons! They sell like hot bread ( as in within weeks of starting sales all appartements are sold, with 1.5-3 years of waiting for the construction to finish), and cost an arm and a leg in the really fancy parts…

I was referring to North America (had a typo in there, should have said “at a France pace”, ie france is building these and NA is not), I get the sense your comment here is in reference to France?

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#867

Post by jjav »

jachee wrote: post #862
alistairSH wrote: post #796

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except, in a competitive/expensive market, the developer will pick the high-rise (almost) every time when allowed by law. Locally, when I see people complain about luxury housing being built, it's because the developer is building high-spec townhomes and selling them for $800k+. Instead of lower-spec townhomes at $500k. The developer can't fit appreciably more homes in the same footprint (they're all 3-4 stories tall…

> The smaller house they vacated is now open for somebody else Or, they didn’t sell it and are just seeking rent on it, now. For this effect to really work, the number of home-owners should equal the number of homes. Right now, there are many, many fewer home-owners than homes.

> Or, they didn’t sell it and are just seeking rent on it, now.

That's fine, it still provides housing for someone. And there are people who actually prefer to rent, so it's good to have rental units available.

Problematic is when they hold on to it and keep it empty, thus occupying space but providing housing for no one.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#868

Post by vkou »

oneoff786 wrote: post #806
vkou wrote: post #652

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To rephrase my point: What do you think would happen to the price of the average home if we printed, and handed out, each man, woman, child, and dog in Canada a million dollars? My guess is that it would increase by ~2.6 million. But it would certainly level the playing field between the average person and 'the landlord with capital'. So if we are so concerned about keeping the average Joe up with that landlord, why…

No I don’t think that argument holds. A hand out is not a loan. It’s also possible that even if loans raise home prices, that there’s a floor to this effect if loans are shrunk. Many companies and people buy homes currently for investment rentals. They’re competing with homebuyers. Strictly speaking I would expect the share of homes owned by landlords to rise even if prices fall.

> A hand out is not a loan.

It has the same inflationary effect on the economy. Under fractional reserve banking, loans inject money into the economy, increasing prices. The lower interest rates are, and the longer mortgage terms are, the more such money gets injected.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#869

Post by jjav »

alistairSH wrote: post #796
jjav wrote: post #709

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If developers build more luxury housing, that'll reduce the price of existing housing, such that it becomes affordable. Not really: Say there's one free acre of land in town. You could build one mansion on it, or a highrise with 100 apartments. Building the mansion isn't going to move the needle on any existing housing at all, as it's just one unit.

Except, in a competitive/expensive market, the developer will pick the high-rise (almost) every time when allowed by law. Locally, when I see people complain about luxury housing being built, it's because the developer is building high-spec townhomes and selling them for $800k+. Instead of lower-spec townhomes at $500k. The developer can't fit appreciably more homes in the same footprint (they're all 3-4 stories tall…

> Except, in a competitive/expensive market, the developer will pick the high-rise (almost) every time when allowed by law.

A developer will, indeed. More profit. But an acre is small enough that it could just as well be a rich individual buyer, in which case they'll build what they like.

There's a half-acre plot for sale nearby for nearly $2M, I'm curious if it ends up being bought by an IPO millionaire to build a small mansion or by some developer to put up two-story apartments. Could go either way.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#870

Post by zzzzzzzza »

RocketOne wrote: post #201

Im 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…

it's insane to me that so many people still seem to have never heard of land value taxation...
Post reply on HN