Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years • Hacker News Board

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#631

Post by itsoktocry » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:41 PM UTC

MAGZine wrote: post #597

cosmiccrisp wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The root cause is the system that is geared to keep houses always appreciating via supply constraints: aggressive zoning, discretionary permitting, NIMBYism. I don't agree that this is the root cause. The root cause is the artificial demand on housing created though our mass immigration policy. Canada accepts _at least_ 500,000 people per year through various channels, "temporary" foreign workers, international stud…

In what world are "temporary" foreign workers buying homes in Canada? With what salary? Same with Refugees, students. Funny how in the first hundred years in Canada, we didn't have any issue with housing costs, despite accepting vast amounts of refugees. I'm not saying it's not making the problem worse, but to SOLELY pin it on them is IMO willful ignorance. if we banned all immigrants, of any kind, tomorrow, would Ca…

>Same with Refugees, students.

There are Twitter accounts dedicated to calling out multi-million dollar homes in Vancouver and Toronto, owned by "students".

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#632

Post by danielmarkbruce » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:41 PM UTC

andrewmutz wrote: post #564

mpalczewski wrote: post #547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In general I agree, that the root cause tends to be a supply constraint. Even if there were a bunch of people buying up houses, at least in theory that should make rents go down. However, in places like Vancouver people are buying up property as a place to park money and they remain unoccupied. Policies like additional taxes on unoccupied or secondary residences. Seem like one good way of adding supply.

If they buy properties as an investment, why not rent them out? If you dont want the hassle, there are property management companies that will handle everything for you.

It's more a place to store value - they aren't looking for a return on it per se. It also adds complexity tax wise. If you have a lot of money in a jurisdiction where it could "disappear", just dumping it in real estate in a safe jurisdiction is attractive.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#633

Post by dukeofdoom » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:41 PM UTC

MAGZine wrote: post #597

cosmiccrisp wrote: post #565

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The root cause is the system that is geared to keep houses always appreciating via supply constraints: aggressive zoning, discretionary permitting, NIMBYism. I don't agree that this is the root cause. The root cause is the artificial demand on housing created though our mass immigration policy. Canada accepts _at least_ 500,000 people per year through various channels, "temporary" foreign workers, international stud…

In what world are "temporary" foreign workers buying homes in Canada? With what salary? Same with Refugees, students. Funny how in the first hundred years in Canada, we didn't have any issue with housing costs, despite accepting vast amounts of refugees. I'm not saying it's not making the problem worse, but to SOLELY pin it on them is IMO willful ignorance. if we banned all immigrants, of any kind, tomorrow, would Ca…

In the real world! There's enough rich people in the world, that some of them send their kids to Canada for school. And some of them buy houses. Why does near every American assume that everyone outside of America is poor.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#634

Post by gotaquestion » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:41 PM UTC

RocketOne wrote: post #201

Im one of those 'greedy' old farts who owns more than one home. We have one for ourselves and 5 rentals. Im starting to agree with those who are feeling priced out of the market. What would make me stop buying homes? A graduated tax would. If there were no sales tax on the first two, and then 15% tax on the third, 25% tax on the 4th, and going up by 10% for each subsequent house, it would definitely make me quit buyi…

Have you increased your rent prices? Why or why not?

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#635

Post by base698 » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

throw_nbvc1234 wrote: post #578

johnnyanmac wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how resistant people are to the idea that housing is expensive because there aren't enough homes for people to live in. I imagine there are enough homes in both America and Canada (they are two of the largest countries after all). But it's all about location. Very few can even afford to move out to the middle of nowhere just to own land. And not many people that can are willing to turn their potentially short commut…

There's the location choices you describe (city vs suburb vs middle of nowhere) and there's location choices around large city vs smaller city that's still significantly larger then "a liquor store, some off brand shopping market, a burger joint, and a 20 year outdated public library". Especially if/when remote work and non-location based salaries become the norm. I recently had a recruiter try to convince me to move…

Assuming you don't own in a high cost of living area you may have waited too long. I live in one of the highest cost of living areas. My assumption was I'd end up moving and be able to buy with cash in a semi desirable area in a low cost medium size city.

It is cheaper for sure, but it's not quite as I expected. Most of the desirable homes have doubled or tripled since 2020. They are still under a $1 million and usually have quite a bit more land, but most medium size cities have seen huge increases in housing costs and rent.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#636

Post by seanmcdirmid » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

homonculus1 wrote: post #579

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #557

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We really should follow Japan on this: (a) National zoning (b) A culture that abhors second hand housing (so structures don't appreciate like land does). Housing that depreciates is no longer a sound investment. (c) Liberal definition on minimal standard housing to rent (central heating not required, toilets can be shared, no personal shower or even a shower at all in the building you are renting a room in, small spa…

Great plan, for a favela

Tokyo is the farthest possible away you can get from a favela.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#637

Post by alar44 » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

fizzizist1 wrote: post #576

alar44 wrote: post #559

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the problem is that people want to buy 3 bedroom homes with a 3 stall garage on 2 acres of land. In my market, there are tons of affordable homes, but they aren't brand new, huge, with a ton of land. People are going to have to pay for that. It's a matter of keeping up with the Joneses from my perspective. People just don't want an average size home built in the 60s. They need a brand new 3k SQ ft home and bi…

I live in Toronto, and there is no way that I could buy a small (not even average size) home built in the 60s for less than a million dollars, unless it's in a really bad neighborhood or needs so much work that I will end up spending that much anyway

That's true, but it's generally people from LA, Toronto, and NYC that really have a problem. They are massive metropolises. Extremely high demand and very little undeveloped land. Supply and demand. For everywhere else that isn't adjacent to a megalopolis, I think the housing "crisis" is massively overstated.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#638

Post by quickthrower2 » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

BlargMcLarg wrote: post #539

johnnyanmac wrote: post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>how resistant people are to the idea that housing is expensive because there aren't enough homes for people to live in. I imagine there are enough homes in both America and Canada (they are two of the largest countries after all). But it's all about location. Very few can even afford to move out to the middle of nowhere just to own land. And not many people that can are willing to turn their potentially short commut…

>If you're a recluse you can make it work, but I can understand millenial aged people not jiving with that style Which further creates a spiraling effect where even recluses will feel obligated to move to the city just for anything that you can't / is very difficult to get from a town. Turns out it isn't that fun when the majority of your neighborhood doesn't share your generation or interests. Especially for young p…

I dont get why a recluse would not want to live in a city. It is anonymous (no super friendly neighbours), you get the most food delivery choice and faster internet probably.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#639

Post by guelo » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

koolba wrote: post #115

pards wrote: post #98

I'm a homeowner in Toronto and I don't think this will help. They've eliminated a small number of buyers from the market but have added other incentives like a first home buyers tax credit that will only fuel the fire - Australia tried this with tragic results. >> working with provinces and territories to develop and implement a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and bring forward a national plan to end blind bidding. Blind…

> IMHO blind bidding is an unethical practice that should be outlawed regardless of its impact on housing prices. Why? There’s no special virtue ascribed to the purchaser v.s. the seller. Nothing stops the purchasers from standing in front of the property and publicly announcing their bids (outside of game theory). If they’re bidding less than they are willing to pay, then de facto they’re low balling the seller. The…

> Nothing stops the purchasers

Inability to coordinate due to lack of information allows the seller to maintain full control of the process.

Re: Canada bans foreign home buyers for two years

#640

Post by usefulcat » Tue, Apr 19, 2022, 6:42 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #557

huevosabio wrote: post #493

These are boogieman policies that have zero influence on the root cause. Foreign investors jump into the housing market because the current system ensures that the supply of housing is limited so it is an attractive way to park your wealth. But that is not the root cause. The root cause is the system that is geared to keep houses always appreciating via supply constraints: aggressive zoning, discretionary permitting,…

We really should follow Japan on this: (a) National zoning (b) A culture that abhors second hand housing (so structures don't appreciate like land does). Housing that depreciates is no longer a sound investment. (c) Liberal definition on minimal standard housing to rent (central heating not required, toilets can be shared, no personal shower or even a shower at all in the building you are renting a room in, small spa…

> A culture that abhors second hand housing (so structures don't appreciate like land does). Housing that depreciates is no longer a sound investment.

If you want a house that depreciates faster, manufactured homes are an option. It's not at all obvious to me though that a structure that depreciates faster will necessarily be more affordable than a traditional house that has been properly maintained. Even if it is, building a new home every N years will almost certainly consume more resources over the medium to long term.