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A group of 10% of buyers in a market is huge. Definitely enough to drive prices up substantially if this group has significantly higher means. In Europe we tra

A group of 10% of buyers in a market is huge. Definitely enough to drive prices up substantially if this group has significantly higher means. In Europe we traditionally take a very dim view of using houses as a financial speculation item. Though neoliberalism has unfortunately undermined that somewhat. But Chinese investors aren't really a problem here. I think it's more NIMBY zoning restrictions that makes house building not keep up with population growth.

com2kid 4y ago
40k people move to Seattle each year. Around 20k houses (combination of apartments for rent, condos + houses for sale) are built per year. Housing prices in major cities are the most obvious and stupid supply and demand situation in existence. Build 100k houses per year in Seattle and prices will go down, and the same is true for any city that is facing a housing price problem.
dmix 4y ago
Those Foreign Boogiemen are buying existing housing supply AND enriching existing domestic citizens in the process (usually local mom and pops in previously poor areas) getting *more* than they would be otherwise. Therefore putting tons of capital back into the domestic market that would otherwise be in foreign markets. If existing residents are now flush with capital why can't they invest in new properties and businesses which benefit us domestically? Not building new houses is the bulk of the problem. Foreign buyers are still a problem when you aren't building enough houses because at some level you won't be building enough for good reasons. 10% of the time you shouldn't be building new buildings for good reasons like... heritage buildings or low income developments. But zoning, building height, etc etc (and often over-zealous heritage policy) limits housing to a much higher degree. These compounding restrictions on supply side capital investments, like how the number of small businesses being created has declined in the last two decades, is another big part of it. Regular people having more $$ via productive capital investment = more money for housing. The housing crisis is largely a reflection of a lack of places for productive capital. Which is a complicated multi-factor problem, that foreign buyers only play a small part.

com2kid 4y ago

40k people move to Seattle each year. Around 20k houses (combination of apartments for rent, condos + houses for sale) are built per year. Housing prices in major cities are the most obvious and stupid supply and demand situation in existence. Build 100k houses per year in Seattle and prices will go down, and the same is true for any city that is facing a housing price problem.

dmix 4y ago

Those Foreign Boogiemen are buying existing housing supply AND enriching existing domestic citizens in the process (usually local mom and pops in previously poor areas) getting *more* than they would be otherwise. Therefore putting tons of capital back into the domestic market that would otherwise be in foreign markets. If existing residents are now flush with capital why can't they invest in new properties and businesses which benefit us domestically? Not building new houses is the bulk of the problem. Foreign buyers are still a problem when you aren't building enough houses because at some level you won't be building enough for good reasons. 10% of the time you shouldn't be building new buildings for good reasons like... heritage buildings or low income developments. But zoning, building height, etc etc (and often over-zealous heritage policy) limits housing to a much higher degree. These compounding restrictions on supply side capital investments, like how the number of small businesses being created has declined in the last two decades, is another big part of it. Regular people having more $$ via productive capital investment = more money for housing. The housing crisis is largely a reflection of a lack of places for productive capital. Which is a complicated multi-factor problem, that foreign buyers only play a small part.