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Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

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Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#531

Post by ChuckNorris89 »

bsaul wrote: post #524
throwaway_paris wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I moved to Paris to start a new job recently, and the housing situation sucks so much. The prices in Paris are fairly high, 1000€ for a 30m² flat. But that's the relatively small heart of "Paris intra muros", excluding the "banlieues" (suburbs) which are cheaper and 30 minutes to an hour with the Métro (or the RER). That doesn't sound more unaffordable than London, not on a tech salary and colleagues have told me co-…

I feel your pain. And you still don't realize the worst part: things are going to get far far worse thanks to the new laws regarding energy "performance". Basically, laws now mandate every flat to have good thermal isolation, otherwise you can't rent them. Which means approx 30% of the housing in Paris will be banned from the renting market in the next 3 years. It started this very year. PS: and because we're french,…

>Which means approx 30% of the housing in Paris will be banned from the renting market in the next 3 years. It started this very year.

Sorry, but what stopped the landlords/building managers from insulating the apartments in due time?

I'm assuming there was a notice period given and the insulation mandate didn't spontaneously come out of nowhere.

Could it be that most landlords are just greedy rentseekers who want to have their cake and eat it too by making easy money without investing a dime in maintenance?

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#532

Post by aogaili »

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…

". They must go up always and forever. The entire world economy revolves around the appreciation of homes in highly developed countries like the US,"

Sorry, that makes no sense. It's a bold, assertive statement that will render the whole situation hopeless.

And the economy doesn't really depend on housing, it depends on people doing productive things and innovating.

If a lot of people choose to speculate on housing, that's their problem when it stops going up or goes down, just like any speculative asset.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#533

Post by ravendug »

llampx wrote: post #516
ravendug wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are mostly temporary by definition so I don’t see that as a source of the longer term shortages at the macro level unless it is shown that the size of the student and temporary worker pool is growing significantly every year? Sure, many of those eventually go onto permanent residency but that’s still included in the 400k annual figure is it not? The number of asylum claimants is overstated in my opinion. Even i…

Why does temporary vs permanent status matter? Whoever is coming to Canada needs a place to live in.

My assumption is that temporary residents no longer consume housing at the end of their stay in the country so, provided the rate of growth in the number of temporary residents is low, their net consumption of the available housing stock over time would also be low. I haven’t seen the growth figures to judge.

Where we stand today, the absolute number of temporary residents are consuming some percentage of housing but I suggest that is the current baseline and is less useful discussing how to solve the problem going forward, unless anyone is advocating for a net reduction in the absolute number going forward. However, I haven’t seen that as part of the discourse and would consider that an extremely short term measure with its own set of ramifications.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#534

Post by cheeseomlit »

asdff wrote: post #485
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely you’re talking about all those wealthy HNers who vote for higher taxes on themselves. Why is it that when some people vote for their principles but against their wallet it’s a good thing but when others do it it’s a bad thing?

If you think being taxed is a bad thing then you don't really understand what taxes do

Taxes in a fiat currency system only exist to remove currency from circulation to prevent excessive inflation. There is no real connection between tax revenue and government expenditure since any shortfall can simply be printed. If you are a US citizen every dollar you've ever given to the federal government has been thrown into a 30 trillion dollar black hole never to be seen again, I wouldn't characterize it as a good thing

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#535

Post by selfmodruntime »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #504
rowanG077 wrote: post #475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes exactly. Paris is honestly one of the greatest shitholes in the EU.

> Paris is honestly one of the greatest shitholes in the EU. Berlin would like to step up as a challenger for that title.

Berlin is far from a shithole. It's a beautiful international city with some problems, but compared to Paris' banlieues or New York filth and trash, all of Berlin's troubles are absolutely minute. For comparison, while there is some "gang" activity in Berlin, rival gangs beating each others in public swimming pools makes national news.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#536

Post by selfmodruntime »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #529
distances wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To each their own, Berlin is probably my favourite European city!

I like it too but only to visit and party every now and then, since, due to the massive liberal and expat/immigrant population there, it's the only place in Germany where I feel comfortable and at home, and not in a conservative conformist dystopian nightmare, despite me being fluent in German. But with the general poor state of the city despite the high income taxes, and that terrible housing market over there I can…

I see Berliners crying about their rent every day, but compared to Munich rent is still affordable in Berlin.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#537

Post by Jemm »

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:…

Two things.

1. Corporate lobbying has insane control over decision making.

2. Highly vocal and critical constituents who are spurred on by propaganda and hatred.

Now politicians who want to survive pass the buck and pass toothless laws like the one in Canada claiming to making housing affordable while adding fire to the crisis by bringing in 1,000,000 immigrants a year to stave off a recession which would hurt the corporations.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#538

Post by philippejara »

seattle_spring wrote: post #223
plantain wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

A full half of the voting base, or more, fervently vote against their own best interest. Seems like it’s happening in Europe and has taken deep roots in places like Brazil, too. People can’t really be surprised that bad things are happening when they explicitly vote for bad things to happen.

>A full half of the voting base, or more, fervently vote against their own best interest.

You really shouldn't assume you know more about half a voter base's own interest than they themselves do, regardless of their "side" in an election. People are driven by different things and put different weights on said things than you do.

The only thing this kind of thinking does is infantilize adults at best and demonize them at worst, which is pretty silly when you're talking about half the voting population.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#539

Post by kennend3 »

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:…

As a Canadian I can tell you my views of what is wrong here.

NIMBY - Any time anything is proposed the locals consider how it could remotely impact them and protest.

They protest ANYTHING. As a quick example - we built wind farms, people protested, we built Solar farms, protesting..

Try building anything in Canada and you will meet NIMBY protesters. I ride my bike a lot and there are areas where they can infill and proposed a modest three story unit. The entire area is full of signs about how this small unit "doesnt fit with the area"? This very same area is desperate for housing?

Politicians dont care about the citizens, they care about getting reelected so they qualify for their gold plated pensions.

Trying to address the NIMBY issues and actually build housing could cost them an election so inaction is their best strategy.

Re: Canada bans most foreigners from buying homes

#540

Post by BurningFrog »

Tiktaalik wrote: post #414
BurningFrog wrote: post #75

One good rule of thumb is that whenever people are blaming foreigners for their problems, they're wrong. Investment in housing and price increases are related. But it's the price increases that cause the investments, not the other way around.

The reason that the government started moving on foreign investment in BC initially back with the taxes in 2015 was that it was so dominant that it was changing the types of housing that was being built . Companies such as Westbank were making projects like Oakridge, Alberni, Butterfly, Canada House with condo units specifically designed as pied-a-terres, marketed with storefront showrooms in major cities across Asia…

That sounds like you shut down a very profitable export industry.

Why not keep building these condos and rake in the money?

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