Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, Russia is Chinas Canada
What an insane take
It’s a joke
"Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
391–400 of 417 posts
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#392Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your assertion flips economic principles on their head. Vacant homes paying taxes without drawing on local services represent a net gain, not a drain. Taxes paid on these properties directly fund public services, enhancing the community’s infrastructure without additional burden. Furthermore, the investment in property contributes to the economy through construction, maintenance, and property management industries. T…
> To claim that unoccupied housing harms the local economy is not logical. Sure, property taxes are paid on the house. But unoccupied homes don't buy groceries and clothes, don't go to restaurants in the local economy. So they do harm the economy, in the sense that they don't contribute as much to the economy as an occupied home.
Exactly. The amount of money I spend that goes to recipients in a ten mile radius utterly dwarfs what I pay in property taxes.
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#393Could someone explain why Canada with their 40M population (almost 10x smaller than US) is running into highly overpriced homes? Canada is one of the largest countries on the planet. Why can’t Canada build more homes? Also why can’t we ban foreigners from owning homes? Same issue applies to US as well.
> Canada is one of the largest countries on the planet. So is the USA but it's still very expensive to live in NYC or SF. This isn't a Canada problem, it's a Toronto/Vancouver/Montreal problem (and their wider metropolitan areas), which together account for more than a third of the country's population. > Why can’t Canada build more homes? Partly due to idiotic zoning laws, partly due to the "missing middle" layer of…
We did ban foreigners owning homes. It's just been extended for 2 more years.
It isn't just a Toronto/Vancover/Montreal problem. People in Halifax have seen rents and property prices soar.
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, but there's Canada's climate. If you try to live in a tent outdoors in Canada you will likely die.
You can do it Vancouver. Seattle and Vancouver’s homelessness problem are remarkably similar, only differing in how Canada handles it better than the Americans do.
And that's essentially the only place you can. So all the homeless make a trek to Vancouver?
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#395Earlier quoted context omitted.
> To claim that unoccupied housing harms the local economy is not logical. Sure, property taxes are paid on the house. But unoccupied homes don't buy groceries and clothes, don't go to restaurants in the local economy. So they do harm the economy, in the sense that they don't contribute as much to the economy as an occupied home.
Exactly. The amount of money I spend that goes to recipients in a ten mile radius utterly dwarfs what I pay in property taxes.
The critical factor in evaluating economic impact is per capita prosperity, not the geographic density of spending. Vacant properties, while not directly contributing to local consumer spending, represent significant capital inflows, enhancing the economic well-being on a per capita basis. Misunderstanding this dynamic overlooks the broader benefits of such investments, including bolstered public budgets and improved resource allocation.
Government intervention to forcibly lower property values or curb vacant properties is misguided and would likely diminish overall prosperity. Instead, efforts should concentrate on dismantling barriers like excessive zoning restrictions and streamlining building permits to encourage development and increase housing supply.
Viewing luxury or seaside properties remaining vacant as a problem ignores the unseen advantages these transactions provide. Sellers receive capital, presumably to be allocated more efficiently, while buyers secure a safe investment, indirectly contributing to the economy’s health. High housing prices signal a need for market adjustments, not for envy-driven policies that would only stifle growth and innovation. The sentiment of envy, while potentially motivating in small-scale societies, can lead to destructive policies in complex modern economies, detracting from the foundational principles that drive progress and prosperity.
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
150k from 20m of assets? Really? Lmao
Every bugger sees a number like 2% and then says '$150000' whoop-de-shit like its some trivial amount. $150k is a lot of money. Its easy to tell other peoples what to do with their money huh? You've never had a bill you couldn't pay? Major assets are usually tied up in long term investments with breaking costs due to illiquidity or taxation (e.g. sell a house before the bright-line period is up and you may pay a lot…
150k out of 20m. Cry me a river.
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
Your assertion flips economic principles on their head. Vacant homes paying taxes without drawing on local services represent a net gain, not a drain. Taxes paid on these properties directly fund public services, enhancing the community’s infrastructure without additional burden. Furthermore, the investment in property contributes to the economy through construction, maintenance, and property management industries. T…
> To claim that unoccupied housing harms the local economy is not logical. Sure, property taxes are paid on the house. But unoccupied homes don't buy groceries and clothes, don't go to restaurants in the local economy. So they do harm the economy, in the sense that they don't contribute as much to the economy as an occupied home.
See my other reply. Your response is the perfect tell me you don’t understand economics without saying it response.
Per capita!
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. The amount of money I spend that goes to recipients in a ten mile radius utterly dwarfs what I pay in property taxes.
The critical factor in evaluating economic impact is per capita prosperity, not the geographic density of spending. Vacant properties, while not directly contributing to local consumer spending, represent significant capital inflows, enhancing the economic well-being on a per capita basis. Misunderstanding this dynamic overlooks the broader benefits of such investments, including bolstered public budgets and improved…
This is veering into a realm of hypotheticals and academia that ignore real world reality and humanity.
You: "row upon row of vacant luxury properties represent significant capital inflow!"
Real world: vacant luxury houses can cause blight and other problems just as much as low-income housing.
Also, the value of the vacant property does not decrease because it is occupied. Unless your claim is that the local burden of people existing in a community is larger than the combination of their property and other contributions.
So an occupied property represents significant capital inflows AND enhances economic well-being on a per capita basis, AND does so moreso than the vacant, because there's the capital inflow AND the local spending.
Otherwise you end up with the absurdist trope of talking about public budgets as "homes and communities are worth more if no-one lives in them".
"Assume a spherical cow..." "Assume a row of oceanfront villas that have roads and sewage and utilities that require less maintenance because they're all vacant."
Phrasing it, as you repeatedly do, as "envy-driven" and "anti-free market" and libertarian ideology is sophistry. "You just don't get economics" - no, people understand that housing isn't a purely economic construct.
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#399Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's because they are one of the most global bank, therefore a prime choice when it comes to moving money from countries to countries. Most bank have a much smaller global footprint and can't be used as such. Banks don't benefit from their customer laundering money just like landlords don't benefit from drug trafficking in their building: it's a hindrance and it costs a lot to do anything about it. Source: I work o…
Don't they? Surely they make some interest on the money if it is parked for any length of time? Plus transaction fees and such? And individuals probably get bonuses etc. based on volume in some way? (IANAB(anker), just wild guesses here.)
Late reply, sorry.
They do, but it's nothing compared to what they make loaning money, which is their (and any banks) core business.
Re: "Fake Chinese income" mortgages fuel Toronto real estate bubble: HSBC bank leaks
#400Earlier quoted context omitted.
Total conjecture: 1. US banks do not face nearly as diverse a set of applicants, and 2. are only required to hold the loan for 5 years. 1. It is very common in Canada for a person with wealth acquired outside the country to apply for a home loan. At the time I was approved as a guarantor for a home loan for over half a million CAD, I had only been in the country for 2 years, and had no credit history with any Canadia…
> Canadian real estate has ALWAYS gone up (until now) Have always gone up expect for when they haven't. Nationally, real estate prices dropped precipitously in the early 1980s. And the Toronto housing crash of 1989 was a complete meltdown. It took until the 2010s for prices to finally return to where they were in 1989!
Yes, I understand that this isn't strictly true.
I guess a more accurate way to put it is that there is almost no one working in banking or any mortgages currently written where a major correction has happened. Canada wasn't whacked in 2008 nearly as bad as the US, and the early 1990s property corrections were much more regionally focused (Toronto got the worst of it), in Edmonton, 1989 and 1990 prices increased more than 20%. Basically there is no one with first hand experience in managing an upside-down housing portfolio.
Basically, for most property markets in Canada, plowing your money into property has been a historically better bet than the TSX.