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I live in Canada. In Canada foreign investment is a massive problem. This is NOT the only problem. But it is a big part of the problem. And arguably housing cr

I live in Canada. In Canada foreign investment is a massive problem. This is NOT the only problem. But it is a big part of the problem. And arguably housing crisis in Canada started with foreign investment. Now domestic players and instituitional investors are also involved in housing market. Together there are enough parties involved not to let housing prices go down.

VincentEvans 5y ago
The problem with “capital” vs “foreign individuals looking to buy a home” in my mind - is that capital will find a way to camouflage as domestic capital if foreign capital is no longer allowed. It will move the money, register a subsidiary etc and buy a billion worth of housing while we are celebrating that a foreign family couldn’t buy a vacation home. I am sure banning that wealthy family from China will do “something” to help alleviate the crisis, but I think putting restrictions on capital being used to buy up homes that aren’t primary-residence should be a priority and will have much larger effect. And to be clear - as it stands with the situation in real estate being what it is right now, I am in favor of massive taxes on real estate investments that are to be used to finance affordable housing to be made available exclusively to first-time buyers and primary residents.
ipaddr 5y ago
Did you know only 3% of Toronto properties are foreign owned. Are you sure it's a real problem or media invented cause?
refurb 5y ago
I mean it's a few percent in some cities. Is it a factor? Sure. Is the fact that housing debt is higher than it's ever been for Canadians themselves more important? Yes. I hear about people pulling out equity in the form of HELOC's to put a downpayment on another home. That's a pretty big chunk of Canadian "investors". And that should scare the shit out of anyone considering that was a major problem in 2008 in the US. People vastly over-leveraging themselves under the assumption that housing only goes up.

VincentEvans 5y ago

The problem with “capital” vs “foreign individuals looking to buy a home” in my mind - is that capital will find a way to camouflage as domestic capital if foreign capital is no longer allowed. It will move the money, register a subsidiary etc and buy a billion worth of housing while we are celebrating that a foreign family couldn’t buy a vacation home. I am sure banning that wealthy family from China will do “something” to help alleviate the crisis, but I think putting restrictions on capital being used to buy up homes that aren’t primary-residence should be a priority and will have much larger effect. And to be clear - as it stands with the situation in real estate being what it is right now, I am in favor of massive taxes on real estate investments that are to be used to finance affordable housing to be made available exclusively to first-time buyers and primary residents.

ipaddr 5y ago

Did you know only 3% of Toronto properties are foreign owned. Are you sure it's a real problem or media invented cause?

refurb 5y ago

I mean it's a few percent in some cities. Is it a factor? Sure. Is the fact that housing debt is higher than it's ever been for Canadians themselves more important? Yes. I hear about people pulling out equity in the form of HELOC's to put a downpayment on another home. That's a pretty big chunk of Canadian "investors". And that should scare the shit out of anyone considering that was a major problem in 2008 in the US. People vastly over-leveraging themselves under the assumption that housing only goes up.