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Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

bnnbloomberg.ca

131–140 of 395 posts

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#131

New Zealand has a similar housing problem. House prices are skyrocketing and pricing out young people. A 25-30% rise in the past year has meant few people are saving fast enough to get a deposit. But two or three years ago the govt. banned overseas buyers. There is no reason to suggest the ban is not effective. It even bans non-permanent residents, so plenty of legitimate residents (work visas) can't purchase propert…

Overseas buyers just get permanent residency and citizenship and buy houses. A few years ago you just needed ~$NZ5m invested in the country and you get permanent residency. There is no way the prices are driven by domestic money. My factory supervisor brother has a house in Mangere Bridge, a blue-collar suburb, built for ~$100k 20 years ago is now well over $1m. It is batshit crazy. I hear of eye-watering prices in M…

> There is no way the prices are driven by domestic money.

How can you be so sure? With the way mortgages work, and the way people who bought starter homes ~10 years ago are more than capable of affording a downpayment on a bigger home, you don't actually need a large amount of domestic money for housing prices to be bid up into the stratosphere.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#132

New Zealand has a similar housing problem. House prices are skyrocketing and pricing out young people. A 25-30% rise in the past year has meant few people are saving fast enough to get a deposit. But two or three years ago the govt. banned overseas buyers. There is no reason to suggest the ban is not effective. It even bans non-permanent residents, so plenty of legitimate residents (work visas) can't purchase propert…

I believe something like a million kiwis live abroad. It strikes me that one mechanism is: - Kiwis live and work abroad, sometimes earning much more than they would in NZ. - Those kiwis buy houses. And with the pandemic: - More of those kiwis have decided to buy houses in NZ, because it has been very successful at keeping covid and restrictions minimal so far.

>I believe something like a million kiwis live abroad.

For context, New Zealand has 4.9 million people (almost exactly one half that of Los Angeles County). Imagine 60 million Americans living abroad, rather than the actual about 9 million.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#133
post #42

This isn't new, nor is it only related to China. Mexico, Russia, many middle east countries, and whole slew of other places has poured billions of cash into Canadian real estate. It's done via regulated banks who turn a blind eye because there nothing illegal about how it's being done. The are skyrises being built in every major city in which 95% of the tenants are not Canadian, and they sit practically empty. Some c…

It might also be from the billions of unemployment and SBA fraud sent overseas during covid.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23213162 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27480619

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#134
post #57
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they made housing plentiful and cheap then nobody would buy it for any reason other than shelter Do you feel that's a bad outcome? The phrasing suggests so, interested in why you feel that way.

No, it's the ideal outcome. Housing should not be an investment. You should just live in it and it depreciates. People should be able to make normal profits by building new ones. Nobody should profit from buying and selling old ones.

There wash a time that home ownership was considered a liability, not an asset (source: “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#135

This[1] video by ColdFusion talks about a similar problem in the US in which Housing market is now being seen as the next big bet by the Wall Street Firms. In this scheme, a common man will not be able to buy/own any house but they can only rent it. It will be very similar to SaaS model in which Houses will be provided as a service. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu4tC3px6mc

Agricultural land is being bought up too. Small farms are being bought up by big agricultural firms.

Bill Gates and Michael Blurry (big short game) are heavy invested in agricultural land.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be right for that class of visa, but there are many others: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/options/li... . And yes, the prices can be driven up by cheap loans, but from memory they were already rising steadily before the covid stimulus measures. I am still unconvinced that there exists in NZ a mechanism that can generate so much money and drive up the prices to these levels. Haven't been ba…

I think what you're seeing is everyone previously investing in stocks, business, etc. are now going all-in on property. Mum and Dad are pulling their supers and investments and gifting it to their kids for their first home. It is entirely unsustainable. But we've been saying this for 15 years now.

Intersting. In where I live (Singapore), it's very common for young married people to get a loan/etc from their parents to cover the down payment (~25%) for a 20-30 year mortgage.

Also, rent here is so expensive that most Singaporeans still stay with their parents even in their late 20s~30s. (Most people renting a room or apartment are none-Singaporeans (30% of the population).) So buying a house makes perfect economical sense if you are married and can somehow cover the down payment.

I wonder if this is becoming a trend across all first-world countries, as the world gets less predictable and people get more risk-adverse. Esp when rents are driven up by none-citizens so it becomes economical to buy instead of rent.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#137

If idiots want to pour their millions into worthless concrete to inevitably lose everything when the wave of free money from central banks recedes, leaving innumerous almost free homes in the market for everyone to buy - why any sane person should object? Notice that there is no comparable craze on the stock market. P/E has gone somewhat up sure but it's just out of anticipation of record corporate profits in the com…

What are your primary investments? Do you own any real estate?

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#138
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. China has no safe place for people to save the money that they have made, by whatever means. Anywhere you put it in there, it can go away in an instant if the government wants to take it away from you. We don't understand this in the west, but whatever you have, in some countries, is fair game for people with friends in high places. It's not just China, but Russia and many other countries are like this. If you…

> Anywhere you put it in there, it can go away in an instant if the government wants to take it away from you. We don't understand this in the west Divorced or divorcing men understand how this can happen in the west.

As far as I know this applies to anyone divorcing; divorce laws apply equally to spouses these days, not just to men.

Re: Billions in 'unknown' funds flowing into Canada's housing market [video]

#139

New Zealand has a similar housing problem. House prices are skyrocketing and pricing out young people. A 25-30% rise in the past year has meant few people are saving fast enough to get a deposit. But two or three years ago the govt. banned overseas buyers. There is no reason to suggest the ban is not effective. It even bans non-permanent residents, so plenty of legitimate residents (work visas) can't purchase propert…

This is the endgame. Watch as all property becomes leased instead of owned. China will grow larger.
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