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All statistics point to it being false. From the financial post (https://business.financialpost.com/real-estate/perception-of-foreign-ownership-heavily-influen

All statistics point to it being false. From the financial post (https://business.financialpost.com/real-estate/perception-of-foreign-ownership-heavily-influences-housing-prices-cmhc https://business.financialpost.com/real-estate/perception-of...): A study from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation released Wednesday found that 68 per cent of Vancouver respondents, 48 per cent of Toronto respondents and 42 per cent of Montreal respondents believe foreign buyers are having "a lot of influence" on their markets and are driving up home prices. The insight into perceptions around foreign buyers that 30,000 respondents in the three cities shared with the Crown Corporation between September and mid-October is in stark contrast with recent data from Statistics Canada showing foreign buyers only own 4.8 per cent of Vancouver properties and 3.4 per cent of homes in Toronto. ---- The truth is that we're house horny enough to not need any outside help to increase the price of real estate. According to Statistics Canada, 69.0% of households are owner (https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-014-x/99-014-x2011002-eng.cfm https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-014-x/99-0...). While anecdotal data can be comforting, the data doesn't support the thesis.

xapata 8y ago
While I'm sympathetic to the claim that foreign buyers didn't influence the price significantly, the ~5% ownership figure is surprisingly high. I wonder what portion it is in other cities, ones that aren't complaining.
parthdesai 8y ago
So i read the highlights of the statcan link you posted. a) it's from 2011, that's 7 years ago. b) Just being house owners doesn't mean a lot. There are non-Canadians (neither PR nor Citizens) buying condo's/houses with 35+% downpayment. Our government allows that, which is kind of mind boggling. You'll see a lot of international students living in condo's that their parents have bought. I know this is unrelated point, but also effing Airbnb has screwed up the market for renters/first time home buyers.
butisaidsudo 8y ago
I don't know which Stats Canada statistics the Financial Post article refers to (I'm sure they have more than one measure), but here's Stats Canada putting non-resident ownership at over 7% in Vancouver (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180625/dq180625a-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180625/dq180...). Whatever the exact number is, I don't think you can draw a conclusion just from that measure alone. The percentage of total properties owned by non-residents is less important than the percentage of recent sales that went to non-residents. Some completely made up and simplified numbers to illustrate my point: Let's say 10% of all properties in Vancouver have been sold on the market in the last 8 years, and 25% of those went to foreign buyers. That would only account for an increase in 2.5% of non-resident ownership. That by itself doesn't sound significant, but 25% of all sales going to buyers many of which are price insensitive is going to have a massive effect on prices.

xapata 8y ago

While I'm sympathetic to the claim that foreign buyers didn't influence the price significantly, the ~5% ownership figure is surprisingly high. I wonder what portion it is in other cities, ones that aren't complaining.

parthdesai 8y ago

So i read the highlights of the statcan link you posted. a) it's from 2011, that's 7 years ago. b) Just being house owners doesn't mean a lot. There are non-Canadians (neither PR nor Citizens) buying condo's/houses with 35+% downpayment. Our government allows that, which is kind of mind boggling. You'll see a lot of international students living in condo's that their parents have bought. I know this is unrelated point, but also effing Airbnb has screwed up the market for renters/first time home buyers.

butisaidsudo 8y ago

I don't know which Stats Canada statistics the Financial Post article refers to (I'm sure they have more than one measure), but here's Stats Canada putting non-resident ownership at over 7% in Vancouver (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180625/dq180625a-eng.htm https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180625/dq180...). Whatever the exact number is, I don't think you can draw a conclusion just from that measure alone. The percentage of total properties owned by non-residents is less important than the percentage of recent sales that went to non-residents. Some completely made up and simplified numbers to illustrate my point: Let's say 10% of all properties in Vancouver have been sold on the market in the last 8 years, and 25% of those went to foreign buyers. That would only account for an increase in 2.5% of non-resident ownership. That by itself doesn't sound significant, but 25% of all sales going to buyers many of which are price insensitive is going to have a massive effect on prices.