4 ms·

Oh, I'm very, very sure money laundering is happening in BC. I'm certain money laundering via real estate is happening all over Canada; Chinese investors are

Oh, I'm very, very sure money laundering is happening in BC. I'm certain money laundering via real estate is happening all over Canada; Chinese investors are buying abandoned farm land in Northern Ontario for some reason.

itsoktocry 6y ago
I agree, and frankly I understand why Chinese people want to get here. It's a great place! But we can't have vast sums of capital, of unknown origin, flooding our country and pricing out our own citizens.
- Ensorceled 6y ago
  Agreed. We definitely need New Zealand style property ownership laws, this is getting out of hand.
- barbecue_sauce 6y ago
  Do they really "want to get" there? Don't they just buy the assets and leave them unoccupied?
  - itsoktocry 6y ago
    >Do they really "want to get" there? Don't they just buy the assets and leave them unoccupied? I'm sure it's both, and it's really hard to determine in advance.
  - Ensorceled 6y ago
    It's a combination of getting cash out of China etc. and having a safety bolt hole.
- eisbaar 6y ago
  I'm not sure the former owners of the houses would agree. They made good money from the houses they sold to Chinese people. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
  - pchristensen 6y ago
    No, but it is a tragedy of the commons situation - the individuals make out like bandits while the social capital is drawn down.
  - Ensorceled 6y ago
    Yes, it is a bad thing. Many of those condos and homes are now empty, raising housing prices on families and making effective city planning impossible.
    - eisbaar 6y ago
      I'm not convinced. If Chinese investors buy properties unseen, you could build lots of cheap apartments and sell them for lots of money. Sure it would be wasteful for a while, but in the end a lot of money would have flown to Canada, and presumably at some point the madness would stop. I'm guessing regulation is the real problem, as it is so often. Even if foreign investors let houses sit empty, the rising prices should be an incentive to build more houses, leading to more supply of housing eventually. Speculation is after all a bet on future demand, and useful for anticipating future demand.
      - Ensorceled 6y ago
        I don't need to convince you. The issues in BC are well documented.
      - ska 6y ago
        Like most econ-101 reasoning, the "eventually" is doing a lot of work here. From a policy point of view, it's easy to see why the picture is a bit trickier. Allowed to proceed unchecked, the underlying mechanism you describe will displace a pretty large fraction of the current population, especially as the offshore money fundamentally doesn't bring in much local economic activity after the new construction. These are the people you represent as a government, not the putative future immigrants and speculators. "Surely it would be wasteful for a while" here represents a multigenerational disruption to a large fraction of your voting public, the majority of whom will see little or no benefit from the incoming money, and the overwhelming majority of whom will see negative impacts.

itsoktocry 6y ago

I agree, and frankly I understand why Chinese people want to get here. It's a great place! But we can't have vast sums of capital, of unknown origin, flooding our country and pricing out our own citizens.

Ensorceled 6y ago
Agreed. We definitely need New Zealand style property ownership laws, this is getting out of hand.
barbecue_sauce 6y ago
Do they really "want to get" there? Don't they just buy the assets and leave them unoccupied?
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >Do they really "want to get" there? Don't they just buy the assets and leave them unoccupied? I'm sure it's both, and it's really hard to determine in advance.
- Ensorceled 6y ago
  It's a combination of getting cash out of China etc. and having a safety bolt hole.
eisbaar 6y ago
I'm not sure the former owners of the houses would agree. They made good money from the houses they sold to Chinese people. Is that necessarily a bad thing?
- pchristensen 6y ago
  No, but it is a tragedy of the commons situation - the individuals make out like bandits while the social capital is drawn down.
- Ensorceled 6y ago
  Yes, it is a bad thing. Many of those condos and homes are now empty, raising housing prices on families and making effective city planning impossible.
  - eisbaar 6y ago
    I'm not convinced. If Chinese investors buy properties unseen, you could build lots of cheap apartments and sell them for lots of money. Sure it would be wasteful for a while, but in the end a lot of money would have flown to Canada, and presumably at some point the madness would stop. I'm guessing regulation is the real problem, as it is so often. Even if foreign investors let houses sit empty, the rising prices should be an incentive to build more houses, leading to more supply of housing eventually. Speculation is after all a bet on future demand, and useful for anticipating future demand.
    - Ensorceled 6y ago
      I don't need to convince you. The issues in BC are well documented.
    - ska 6y ago
      Like most econ-101 reasoning, the "eventually" is doing a lot of work here. From a policy point of view, it's easy to see why the picture is a bit trickier. Allowed to proceed unchecked, the underlying mechanism you describe will displace a pretty large fraction of the current population, especially as the offshore money fundamentally doesn't bring in much local economic activity after the new construction. These are the people you represent as a government, not the putative future immigrants and speculators. "Surely it would be wasteful for a while" here represents a multigenerational disruption to a large fraction of your voting public, the majority of whom will see little or no benefit from the incoming money, and the overwhelming majority of whom will see negative impacts.