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Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

theglobeandmail.com

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Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#61

I do wonder what country will be the first one to ‘break’ and implement restrictions on buying homes. The current situation is not sustainable, and soon something will need to give.

Governments should just build a bunch of socialized housing and rent it at a rent just high enough to offset the expenditure (i.e. way below private market value). That would put downward pressure on rents. That is what Vienna did and they are the only popular city in Europe without a serious housing crisis.

I think that may depend a great deal on if you consider a years-long waiting list for socialized housing to be a serious housing crisis.

For my own part, I'm going to say that Vienna's approach has not actually solved the key supply problem.

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#62

Not sure about Canada, but I make way above the median in tech in California and I have zero interest in buying a home. Having a home would be a huge hassle when I look for new work every 3 or 4 years. The math shows a home in almost any area in the USA is only a financial benefit after 8 or more years of staying in that home (compared to an apartment), when taking closing costs, maintenance, large upfront interest,…

i live in Canada and luckily bought a house about 5 years ago before this all went crazy. one of the main reasons I bought is because my mortgage payment is and was half of what rent would be in a comparable house and i get all my money back if I decide to sell and move on . i don't make a ton of money but my house is a great safety net and by the time i retire i will have zero monthly payments be it rent or mortgage.

its crazy tho , my friend is looking to buy the same house as mine , same layout etc and its more than double what i paid for mine in the span of 5 years. our kids will never be able to enter the real estate market and will be living with roommates or in dads basement for ever.

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#63

Not sure about Canada, but I make way above the median in tech in California and I have zero interest in buying a home. Having a home would be a huge hassle when I look for new work every 3 or 4 years. The math shows a home in almost any area in the USA is only a financial benefit after 8 or more years of staying in that home (compared to an apartment), when taking closing costs, maintenance, large upfront interest,…

I'm guessing you don't have children? I don't either, but I suspect that's folks main motivation for buying a home.

Bingo, it sucks to live with kids in a condo because condos aren't built for families, neither are the neighborhoods with condos. There's other ways to build density without packing everyone into sad sardine cans.

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#64

> The central bank defines an investor as a buyer who took out a mortgage to buy the property while maintaining a mortgage on another home. In the US, a lot has been made about large investment companies buying up houses, but this is something different entirely: > This category represents homebuyers with multiple mortgaged properties. This means investors are homebuyers who either: > * purchase an investment propert…

> it would even exclude someone with a paid-off house who bought a new investment property with a mortgage. That is called an investor, since they purchased an investment.

[deleted]

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#65

This is creating an artificial Tulip bulb crisis where people could live instead of these rent-seeking vampires either letting them idle or renting them on Airbnb. Pass a law that homes must be occupied by the owner at least 10% of the time or property taxes go up 900%. Creating a class of land barons and serfs doesn't bode well for the future of humanity.

But how do u enforce the “must be occupied 10% of the time” part?

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#66

> The central bank defines an investor as a buyer who took out a mortgage to buy the property while maintaining a mortgage on another home. In the US, a lot has been made about large investment companies buying up houses, but this is something different entirely: > This category represents homebuyers with multiple mortgaged properties. This means investors are homebuyers who either: > * purchase an investment propert…

It seems like it would also include people who are buying a new property to occupy as owners that will be mortgaged, while planning to later sell their existing, also-mortgaged, owner-occupied property. Those people are not investors by any useful English-language definition, but would be counted as such by this method. This is exactly the situation we were in when we bought our current home, and anecdotally, is not…

I believe those would be called repeat buyers under the Bank of Canada methodology because the Transunion data should connect their new mortgage with the discharge of their previous mortgage.

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#67
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Governments should just build a bunch of socialized housing and rent it at a rent just high enough to offset the expenditure (i.e. way below private market value). That would put downward pressure on rents. That is what Vienna did and they are the only popular city in Europe without a serious housing crisis.

I think that may depend a great deal on if you consider a years-long waiting list for socialized housing to be a serious housing crisis. For my own part, I'm going to say that Vienna's approach has not actually solved the key supply problem.

The point is not to get the socialized housing yourself. The point is that the private market rent prices go down, which is objectively true of Vienna.

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#68

I do wonder what country will be the first one to ‘break’ and implement restrictions on buying homes. The current situation is not sustainable, and soon something will need to give.

I know in Indonesia it's basically impossible for a foreigner to own land. Of course there's workarounds, but for the most part you at least need to have some local connections for some time to be able to access the less-than-legal workarounds, so it's still quite good

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#69
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The federal government doesn't "hoard" land around areas where people would want to purchase a first home. The vast majority of crown land is not around any major urban centers. Canadian tech workers make way above median income levels.

Are you sure? GDP per Capita is 71k cad vs a developer salary of 87k cad. Seems pretty average. https://www.glassdoor.ca/Salaries/toronto-software-developer...

GDP per capita has nothing to do with salaries. I believe average salary for Canada is $59300 so that puts dev salaries well above average.

Re: Investors account for 30 per cent of home buying in Canada, data show

#70
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that may depend a great deal on if you consider a years-long waiting list for socialized housing to be a serious housing crisis. For my own part, I'm going to say that Vienna's approach has not actually solved the key supply problem.

The point is not to get the socialized housing yourself. The point is that the private market rent prices go down, which is objectively true of Vienna.

Yes, I follow the point. I am disputing your characterization of "popular city in Europe without a serious housing crisis". On the strength of available evidence, Vienna has what can be fairly described as a serious housing crisis.
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