Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
1–10 of 619 posts
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#2This seems like a good idea and it carves out exceptions for foreigners who are residents. I presume this puts pressure on other countries to do the same, since investors are looking for other opportunities.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#3So if you're the stereotypical rich foreigner who wants to invest in real estate here, what's the stop them from incorporating a company locally, and then having that own the house(s)? And that's just one workaround I can think of in the first 30 seconds. As with all well-intentioned simplistic schemes, this will hurt normal folks - immigrants who don't have their paperwork sorted out yet - and do absolutely nothing to the big $$ driving home prices up.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#4So if you're the stereotypical rich foreigner who wants to invest in real estate here, what's the stop them from incorporating a company locally, and then having that own the house(s)? And that's just one workaround I can think of in the first 30 seconds. As with all well-intentioned simplistic schemes, this will hurt normal folks - immigrants who don't have their paperwork sorted out yet - and do absolutely nothing…
Not being able to stop it entirely doesn't mean it's not a good idea. Increasing the hurdles that need to be jumped through will be off-putting to some who would have otherwise went down this road, and provides the state with more avenues to actually have control over foreign buying. Immigrants who don't have their paperwork sorted out yet shouldn't be buying homes imo. Get your ducks in a row.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#5So if you're the stereotypical rich foreigner who wants to invest in real estate here, what's the stop them from incorporating a company locally, and then having that own the house(s)? And that's just one workaround I can think of in the first 30 seconds. As with all well-intentioned simplistic schemes, this will hurt normal folks - immigrants who don't have their paperwork sorted out yet - and do absolutely nothing…
It's already covered in the law. Most provinces are requiring that "beneficial ownership" of any corporation is reported to the government.
https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/british-columbia-finalizes...
What is more likely is that some foreigner would use a relative in Canada, who has PR or citizenship, to buy the property on their behalf.
But foreigners buying home in Canada was never that big of an issue. I think in the hottest areas it was high single digits. It did have an impact no doubt, but it was mostly Canadians running amuck on cheap debt that ran home prices into the stratosphere.
But the funny part is that home prices are already dropping fast (due to rising interest rates) so I can't wait until some politician claims this legislation works.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#6So if you're the stereotypical rich foreigner who wants to invest in real estate here, what's the stop them from incorporating a company locally, and then having that own the house(s)? And that's just one workaround I can think of in the first 30 seconds. As with all well-intentioned simplistic schemes, this will hurt normal folks - immigrants who don't have their paperwork sorted out yet - and do absolutely nothing…
It's already covered in the law. Most provinces are requiring that "beneficial ownership" of any corporation is reported to the government. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/british-columbia-finalizes... What is more likely is that some foreigner would use a relative in Canada, who has PR or citizenship, to buy the property on their behalf. But foreigners buying home in Canada was never that big of an issue. I think…
While I didn’t follow the news closely, this seems to have come from the Vancouver and Toronto real estate markets. City level laws might have been tried but they lack teeth. This issue is also leading towards a vacancy survey and tax for vacant houses to provide material to escalate (I feel) if necessary.
And worldwide, people might want cheaper housing but they din’t want their own house value to decline. The former occurs in the neocortex while the latter seems to lie deep in the lizard brain.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#7In Spain they'll give a residency permit to foreigners buying a home over 500k euros.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#8So if you're the stereotypical rich foreigner who wants to invest in real estate here, what's the stop them from incorporating a company locally, and then having that own the house(s)? And that's just one workaround I can think of in the first 30 seconds. As with all well-intentioned simplistic schemes, this will hurt normal folks - immigrants who don't have their paperwork sorted out yet - and do absolutely nothing…
> and do absolutely nothing to the big $$ driving home prices up
Are the price rises because 1 person bought a penthouse for $100mil or because a million 'normal' people outbid each other for the 100k house in the suburbs?
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's already covered in the law. Most provinces are requiring that "beneficial ownership" of any corporation is reported to the government. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/british-columbia-finalizes... What is more likely is that some foreigner would use a relative in Canada, who has PR or citizenship, to buy the property on their behalf. But foreigners buying home in Canada was never that big of an issue. I think…
While I didn’t follow the news closely, this seems to have come from the Vancouver and Toronto real estate markets. City level laws might have been tried but they lack teeth. This issue is also leading towards a vacancy survey and tax for vacant houses to provide material to escalate (I feel) if necessary. And worldwide, people might want cheaper housing but they din’t want their own house value to decline. The forme…
> seems to lie deep in the lizard brain
Wanting an asset you purchased on 10 times leverage, with a 5% interest rate on the debt to decline in value would be total and utter insanity.
Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes
#10In Spain they'll give a residency permit to foreigners buying a home over 500k euros.
Costa Rica it’s $150,000 US and they just lowered it in 2021 from 200.
Portugal also has/had a similar setup, but it seems gridlocked by the bureaucracy. I thought Canada actually had a similar law several years back, but maybe not. There are easier ways to get residency in Portugal and Spain, the difference is these let you be absentee 90% of the time.
This Canadian law is typical of left-isolationism as opposed to right-isolationism. Keep out the rich instead of keep out the poor.