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Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

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Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#241

Post by bamboozled »

themagician wrote: post #237
plantain wrote: post #140

I really don't understand why governments around the globe just throw their hands in the air and pretend housing is an unsolvable problem for which they have no obligation to fix. It wasn't always like this - in 1922 in Australia we realised there was a shortage of 25,000 homes, so they just made it happen [1]. Why are we so impotent today? Do we just not care enough? Are the vested interests too powerful? [1] https:…

There are a lot of answers, but they all stem from one core answer: Because governments do not want to fix it, because those with wealth (largely) do not see it as a problem. Three generations of people (silent, boomers, and gen x) were told that real estate was the best investment they could make for their ENTIRE LIFE. Millennials also heard this growing up. In the US we even took extra steps to make sure that homeo…

Except we know they can't and won't go up forever in those countries as they mostly have a declining birth rate, a long with many other countries. So going to be a fun crash?

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#242

Post by ec59cb1659 »

ThrowawayTestr wrote: post #43
kennend3 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instead of being critical of the decisions of others, what do you suggest? Arm chair critics are a dime a dozen, what are your ideas on how to address the housing problems?

[flagged]

The elephant in the room is downvoted because it's politically incorrect.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#243

Post by Scoundreller »

m00x wrote: post #204
smnrchrds wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure, there's some language later on which allows a province's superior court to order that the house be sold. Be sold. What a punishment! And unless it's some massive televised case, the superior courts don't have time for that. 1. I sincerely doubt that the courts will let the law remain unenforced. Let's agree to disagree on that. 2. The reddit post goes into details (which I agree with) about how this law chang…

> 1. I sincerely doubt that the courts will let the law remain unenforced. Let's agree to disagree on that. Then you don't know Canadian enforcement very well. I've been a Canadian for 35 years and I can say with conviction that most laws around real estate or commercial corruption aren't enforced. Almost all my Chinese friends who aren't already wealthy let overseas "investors" use their accounts to transfer 50k/y.…

Depends on the province, but in Ontario, only a lawyer can convey property in the land registry. It might be difficult for a foreigner to buy in that case.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#244

Post by [deleted] »

smnrchrds wrote: post #228
revolvingocelot wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Unenforced"? No, no -- the $10,000 fine will be collected. It's just the forced sale that might not occur if the superior courts are busy (and they are!), and if it does occur, the foreign nearly-buyer will be out $10,000. There's no need to encourage baseless Reddit speculation, just read the law itself -- I've linked it, you've linked it -- and reason about how the government will act based on the last 30 years of…

Again, I don't agree with your cynicism. But even if you are cynical, consider this: if the government appears soft on real estate prices, they will lose the next election (which may be as early as this spring) to Pierre Poilievre.

[deleted]

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#245

Post by adventured »

acyou wrote: post #236
screye wrote: post #212

I don't blame Canada. The country is running out of space really fast and they lack the technology to build more than 1 floor of house. Unlike massive countries like South Korea, they can't fit 50 million people. Can you imagine being forced to live in slum like conditions without a half-acre yard or at least 3 parking spots? We are a developed country, do you expect us to park on the streets like the 3rd world ? If…

Would you be able to please expand on this and explicitly say what you want to say? Wondering what you mean by "sprawly nations".

Nearly the whole post is in sarcastic jest.

By sprawly the parent means nations that don't build upwards with highrise approaches as a solution to building more residences (and instead sprawl sideways, taking up large amounts of land per residence).

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#246

Post by Alex3917 »

arcticbull wrote: post #163
plantain wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What changed? Governments used to aggressively intervene in the housing market.

My hypothesis has been that renters stopped voting. They tend to be transient, younger, non-voters while landowners tend to be older, rooted and vote fervently. Density hurts landowners by decreasing property values and landowners vote.

> They tend to be transient, younger, non-voters while landowners tend to be older, rooted and vote fervently.

Which is exactly why we have policies to encourage home ownership rather than rental.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#247

Post by dan-robertson »

happyopossum wrote: post #205
dan-robertson wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

14.1M occupied private dwellings[1] 39M Canadians[2] Looks like there isn’t enough property to go round. Maybe the problem is that people want to live in places where they get paid, and not share with parents/roommates and they’re competing to occupy dwellings where there aren’t enough? But what do I know? I just wrote down some numbers that aren’t equal. [1] https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/…

That’s roughly 2.7 people per home - what’s your ideal ratio?

I don’t think one should care about the ratio. I think it’s fine if people have big families or multigenerational households or lots of roommates so long as that’s what they want. And I think it’s fine if lots of people live alone or in small households so long as that’s what they want. And I think it’s fine if the average Canadian family has a second home in the woods somewhere.

I think the problem is that, for lots of people, they can’t have what they want because there aren’t enough housing.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#248

Post by ec59cb1659 »

rr808 wrote: post #217
LAC-Tech wrote: post #184

They tried this in NZ too; it did nothing. Canada - Like New Zealand, and like Australia - relies on simply increasing the population through mass migration to "grow" the economy. This benefits enough powerful people that it will never stop for the sake of mere renters.

Western countries are all trying to encourage immigration because without it their populations will collapse. Right now populations are rising and causing house prices to rise but soon boomers will start dying leaving huge numbers of homes empty.

If that was the case, immigration quotas would be set to maintain a steady-state population.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#249

Post by CPLX »

stoppingin wrote: post #215
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> renters stopped voting Renters also got co-opted into being NIMBYs out of fear of gentrification.

This idea is pure fantasy. This condition of classifying people as NIMBYs if they disagree with you on this topic is incredibly toxic. There are a plethora of totally valid reasons why people would be opposed to endless urban sprawl, consolidation, and population growth.

How does someone oppose population growth?

That’s a literal question. What public policy do you endorse that has the ability to significantly reduce the number of people being born?

If you don’t have one you’re just opposed to building enough houses for the people we have.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#250

Post by AbrahamParangi »

plantain wrote: post #140

I really don't understand why governments around the globe just throw their hands in the air and pretend housing is an unsolvable problem for which they have no obligation to fix. It wasn't always like this - in 1922 in Australia we realised there was a shortage of 25,000 homes, so they just made it happen [1]. Why are we so impotent today? Do we just not care enough? Are the vested interests too powerful? [1] https:…

Regional and cultural specificities aside, as the population pyramid becomes more inverted the incentives of older citizens (who are more likely to own property) should be expected to outvote the interests of younger citizens (more likely to rent).
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