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

961–970 of 1001 posts

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#961

Post by xapata »

worik wrote: post #893
_3u10 wrote: post #846

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver and Toronto isn’t a housing market in any real sense of the word. Supply is fixed by government, interest rates are fixed by government, etc. If you took government control out of the market prices would plummet. Any plank will do, supply, financial backing or interest rates and the whole thing comes crashing down. That’s the real problem, how to cause a 20% “correction” and not 80%. My house is 8 hours fro…

Everybody blaming zoning. What is happening in Dallas which has no zoning rules? (Or am I thinking of Austin Texas?) I do not know, but it would be useful for this debate

The housing crisis 15 years ago shrank the building industry and it hasn't recovered, yet. Further, construction has historically used a significant amount of immigrant labor, and immigration has shrank recently, increasing costs.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#962

Post by nullc »

bombcar wrote: post #917
nullc wrote: post #603

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So how is asking to be allowed to redevelop your own lot being against private property ownership? To answer that: consider, would me being allowed to build a joint pig farm and jet engine testing facility 10 feet from your bedroom window be compatible with your property rights? Externalities exist. Changes in the usage-- which includes density-- of the surrounding property can have a real effect on the existing re…

There’s a far cry between “no unlicensed pig farms” and “each house must be an entire freeway’s width from the next one”, especially as one is a different type of use instead of just a more dense one.

I used an extreme example, for sure! I think it highlights that stable zoning rules can promote property rights rather than undermining them. Sure, they can go too far-- but there is no fundamental contradiction.

> one is a different type of use instead of just a more dense one

Differences in density are differences in use! perhaps insubstantial ones--- ones that don't meaningfully impinge any existing residents property right, and if so they shouldn't rightfully be restricted by zoning. And obviously they are-- I'm not attempting to defend existing practices-- only arguing that the conflict is not fundamental and that people arguing over them can all be making reasonable arguments over the right thresholds.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#963

Post by rank0 »

Drew_ wrote: post #860
rank0 wrote: post #571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Renting is throwing away money; it goes into someone else's pocket and it's gone. Holy shit this is insane. Do you actually believe renting has no benefits? When you purchase a property you’re on the hook for that mortgage payment for the next 30 years. Buyers absorb an enormous amount of risk. Maintenance is time consuming and expensive. Renters can leave whenever they like and have no long term financial ties to…

They didn't say renting has no benefits they said it's expensive and has no ROI. You position renting as easy and buying as a burden and an "enormous risk" so I assume you will be renting apartments and leasing cars for the rest of your life surely?

Why should a renter get an ROI when they have zero investment in the property? No risk no reward.

> I assume you will be renting apartments and leasing cars for the rest of your life surely?

No. I will consider my current financial and life circumstances like a rational human being. Do you understand how the world works?

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#964

Post by 2143 »

donthellbanme wrote: post #921
huevosabio wrote: post #493

These are boogieman policies that have zero influence on the root cause. Foreign investors jump into the housing market because the current system ensures that the supply of housing is limited so it is an attractive way to park your wealth. But that is not the root cause. The root cause is the system that is geared to keep houses always appreciating via supply constraints: aggressive zoning, discretionary permitting,…

The wealthy of the world should shouldn't be able to buy up our real-estate period. In the USA, all it takes is a email, or phone call, from practically anywhere in the world and they own it. At minimum we (USA) need to start with citizenship as a prerequisite. Oh yea, stop corporation for buying up precious stock too. (Until we have more stock--the last thing we should allow is foreigners with funds buying our land.…

When the wealthy of the world buy land in USA, isn't their wealth from abroad getting transferred into USA?

That's foreign money coming in to USA.

Technically, that's a good thing for the country as a whole.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#965

Post by 2143 »

cosmiccrisp wrote: post #565
huevosabio wrote: post #493

These are boogieman policies that have zero influence on the root cause. Foreign investors jump into the housing market because the current system ensures that the supply of housing is limited so it is an attractive way to park your wealth. But that is not the root cause. The root cause is the system that is geared to keep houses always appreciating via supply constraints: aggressive zoning, discretionary permitting,…

>The root cause is the system that is geared to keep houses always appreciating via supply constraints: aggressive zoning, discretionary permitting, NIMBYism. I don't agree that this is the root cause. The root cause is the artificial demand on housing created though our mass immigration policy. Canada accepts _at least_ 500,000 people per year through various channels, "temporary" foreign workers, international stud…

> Canada accepts _at least_ 500,000 people per year through various channels, "temporary" foreign workers, international students (many of whom stay), refugees, and of course, normal immigration. And I am low balling that number. It could be closer to 1 million.

> When you bring in an entire large city worth of people, it stands to reason that this will cause massive pressure on housing prices. Now sustain that yearly increase for decades, and you have the problem we face today.

You make it sound like those people enter Canada and then just sit there doing nothing. Which is wrong.

As long as they're LEGALLY in Canada, I don't see a problem.

They're studying/taking up jobs or whatever, and they're also spending the money that they make in Canada, in Canada. This helps the existing Canadians as well. And some of them start their own businesses. That's how the economy develops. Money should keep rolling.

> There are 9 million people in Canada (a country of around 40M) currently living here on 10 year visa's. - Crazy!

What's so crazy about that? You should check the numbers for USA.

As for the 10 year visa part. From what I know, Canada grants B1/B2 visa with a 10 year validity for businesspeople and tourists. It does not mean they can enter and stay for 10 years. They can enter, stay for sometime (they have to state how long they intend to stay at the time of entry), and then they leave. Or atleast, the vast majority of them do. They have better things to do back home.

By the way, you might also want to look into Canadians emigrating to USA. Not that there's anything wrong with it. Just saying that it happens.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#966

Post by [deleted] »

dukeofdoom wrote: post #633
MAGZine wrote: post #597

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what world are "temporary" foreign workers buying homes in Canada? With what salary? Same with Refugees, students. Funny how in the first hundred years in Canada, we didn't have any issue with housing costs, despite accepting vast amounts of refugees. I'm not saying it's not making the problem worse, but to SOLELY pin it on them is IMO willful ignorance. if we banned all immigrants, of any kind, tomorrow, would Ca…

In the real world! There's enough rich people in the world, that some of them send their kids to Canada for school. And some of them buy houses. Why does near every American assume that everyone outside of America is poor.

[deleted]

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#967

Post by rapjr9 »

Perhaps this is an attempt by Canada to keep the American's out? Any investor that believes in climate change has got to be looking at the areas of the world that used to be colder and seeing opportunity. The closer someone lives to the equator the more desirable northern properties are going to look. It's not just the bugs, plants, and animals that are shifting north, the people are also.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#969

Post by throwaway0a5e »

worik wrote: post #893
_3u10 wrote: post #846

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vancouver and Toronto isn’t a housing market in any real sense of the word. Supply is fixed by government, interest rates are fixed by government, etc. If you took government control out of the market prices would plummet. Any plank will do, supply, financial backing or interest rates and the whole thing comes crashing down. That’s the real problem, how to cause a 20% “correction” and not 80%. My house is 8 hours fro…

Everybody blaming zoning. What is happening in Dallas which has no zoning rules? (Or am I thinking of Austin Texas?) I do not know, but it would be useful for this debate

You're probably thinking of Houston and Austin.

In any case, all three have rampant HOAs which serve the same purpose as zoning.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#970

Post by seoaeu »

digisign wrote: post #944
seoaeu wrote: post #939

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Affordable housing is and will always be a horrible idea. This is like saying food banks are a horrible idea, and we should just focus on job growth so everyone can afford to buy their own food. It comes across as really tone deaf to ignore that some people need help now and that even though it isn’t a complete solution, feeding one person today or getting one person off the street into newly constructed affordable…

"Affordable housing" is one of the most expensive, bureaucratic forms of construction, not a way to build faster.

Faster than what? It takes a handful of years for a non-profit or government housing agency to build new affordable housing. At the current pace of market rate construction, it’ll take many many decades before newly built “luxury” housing filters down enough for low income households to afford it. Even if there was a massive YIMBY housing boom we’re still probably looking at 10-20 years before market rents fall enough to be affordable to low income folks
Post reply on HN