The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires • Hacker News Board

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#171

Post by melolife » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:34 PM UTC

myth_drannon wrote: post #143

pjonesdotca wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably about as many parents who are fighting to get their kids in French Immersion in the rest of Canada. I can't speak about anywhere other than Toronto but here it's quite sought after, second language for children. Especially amongst first generation immigrants like myself.

That's not because of French language, they would try even if it had Zulu immersion. It's just that it's cheaper than private schools, but you still get good students and quality environment

Correct. The parents that care put their children into French immersion because other like-minded parents do so and their children are high-achieving.

Any teacher will tell you that parenting is the biggest determining factor in academic achievement, and as a result French immersion is effectively the "academic stream" in the Canadian school system. It also receives additional federal funding which is not available to English programs.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#172

Post by easytiger » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:35 PM UTC

msie wrote: post #158

I'm disgusted/saddened by the biased reporting that's taken place over this issue. This article points out how Bloomberg and other media are attracted to the "foreign buyers" narrative: http://www.straight.com/news/735161/revisiting-real-estate-r... Study finds foreign buyers impact Vancouver real estate but likely can't account for sky-high prices: http://www.straight.com/news/720471/study-finds-foreign-buye...

Same in London. In everything except extremely high end property. But it is a common narrative for political purposes because people "feel" it to be right.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#173

Post by antisthenes » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:36 PM UTC

vorg wrote: post #54

jimjimjim wrote: post #39

It's happening to countries all around the pacific rim (well, without being too rude, all the stable countries). Chinese money is land-banking in Vancouver, US north west, Australia, and Auckland in nz. and countries don't dear stop it because it will tank the real-estate bubble too quickly (it'll go before the tech bubble anyway). But if it does it will actually be good for the economies because capital tied up in u…

ex-IT workers who left these places say "My job went to India and my home went to China."

True globalization!

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#174

Post by hx87 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:38 PM UTC

mikhailfranco wrote: post #65

jackcosgrove wrote: post #3

The whole Pacific coast of North America is becoming a gated region, closed off from those without at least quarter of a million dollars saved up. Unfortunately I think the mild weather and beauty of that area mean prices will never go down. Middle class people are seemingly bound to live in places that are too hot, too cold, or too flat.

It is interesting to look at the map of California and wonder at that huge gap between Carmel and Santa Barbara. No development, no population, its even hard for tourists to find a place to stay, or even a campsite. The tech industry pays all the state's bills, mostly captured by tenured public sector workers, in true socialist fashion. If there's a tech crash, and a few years pass without IPOs, the state will collap…

> that huge gap between Carmel and Santa Barbara

There's a reason that part of the state is sparsely developed. There's nothing but the mountains and the sea, and constant rockslides make building any transportation infrastructure hellishly expensive. Unlike Norway, there are no fjords to provide easy sea access, and there is no oil. It's a beautiful place to visit, but good luck building anything denser than small towns there.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#175

Post by lintiness » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:39 PM UTC

branchless wrote: post #119

celerystock wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately the software industry in Montreal has decided that developers are not valuable. Salaries are hilariously low compared to american counterparts.

Living costs are very low. And hours are good. Can you buy time? Do you want to live in a country with shameful inequality? Not me.

you guys are important, really, no need to constantly whine about your neighbor to the south.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#176

Post by hx87 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:42 PM UTC

enraged_camel wrote: post #18

et-al wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems like the Canadian government is responding: > Foreign investors will have to pay an additional 15 percent in property-transfer tax as of Aug. 2 and city of Vancouver was given the authority to impose a new tax on empty homes. The additional tax on foreign investors is a good idea, but I wonder how it will be enforced, especially when ownership is often hidden behind trusts.

>>and city of Vancouver was given the authority to impose a new tax on empty homes. I wonder how they will actually enforce this. I mean, one can furnish a home, have utilities remain active and leave a few lights on and make it look like someone is actually living there. Add some random noise generation (pretty easy to set up with home automation or other, similar methods) and you can fool basically anyone who isn't…

> you can fool basically anyone who isn't actively watching your door 24/7

How easy is it to fool a surveillance camera pointed at your door 24/7 with an automated system trained to detect human movement watching it?

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#177

Post by hx87 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:44 PM UTC

happyslobro wrote: post #77

dottedmag wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, until you have a family. Then suddenly you need a good school nearby (and good luck bringing children to school in car if they have serious case of motion sickness).

I walked to school back when I was in elementary school. In grade 2, my mother confirmed that I remembered the stranger rules, and stopped walking with me. It was about a 2km walk. Why is it ok for this to not be the norm? Why do people just accept that their kids are growing up in a city where they can't be allowed to explore their environment?

"Stranger rules" are a net negative, in my opinion. The threat from strangers is overblown--if you want to minimize danger to your kids at the all costs, don't let them see relatives, ever.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#178

Post by hx87 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:45 PM UTC

greenshackle wrote: post #163

happyslobro wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you need, is a bicycle. But aside from that, small towns often have a more thorough mixing of zone types; you can often live within walking distance of work or school and a small grocery store.

> bicycle > Canada That's great, except for the 7 or so months out of the year when it's not. If flukus prefers dense areas that's his deal... arguing about preferences is dumb.

What's wrong with riding in the winter? You have to make sure you have the right clothing and equipment, but that's about it.

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#179

Post by hx87 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:45 PM UTC

happyslobro wrote: post #130

serge2k wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

and for those of us used to living in cities, living in the middle of nowhere sounds horrendous.

Just wait until you see the Milky Way stretching across the night sky. Or get a call from friends to take the Jeeps up the mountain. Or jump into a cool river on a hot day, and float a few kilometres downstream without encountering anyone who cares about the cooler of beers floating along with you.

I can drive out of the city, you know...

Re: The Canadian Housing Boom Fueled by China’s Billionaires

#180

Post by hx87 » Wed, Aug 03, 2016, 3:47 PM UTC

narrator wrote: post #110

All the trillions of dollars that got sent out the trade deficit since the 80s are finally making their way back to the developed economies. We can only export our inflation for so long.

If would could only find a way to tax that in order to pay off the fiscal deficits we had to accrue in order to make perpetual trade deficits less painful...