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Anecdotally, in my experience, a large percent of AirBNB's in Vancouver are owned by foreigners. But yeah, the really wealthy foreigners just buy up mansions a
by lm411 3y ago
Anecdotally, in my experience, a large percent of AirBNB's in Vancouver are owned by foreigners.
But yeah, the really wealthy foreigners just buy up mansions and keep them empty.
I don't believe the Empty Homes Tax or foreign buyer ban work very well. It's just too easy to fake and there is very little enforcement. Same for the AirBNB license requirements - barely enforced.
- danlugo92 3y agoAs I mentioned in another thread, what about 1 "SSN" (whatever Canada's equivalent is) to N houses... So N houses can only be owned or sponsored by only 1 "SSN" holder... So even if you have for example 20 Chinese foreigners, they would have to be sponsored by at least N "SSN Holders". If a "SSN Holder" buys up an 'unnatural' amount of land/houses, look into it... then maybe check who is he sponsoring (other Canadians or just 20 Chinese buyers?) and then decide from there. By "Chinese" I mean "Chinese without the equivalent of Canada's SSN" btw, no exclusion obviously should be performed against "Chinese"-descendant Canadian citizens. For any readers... this system is already implemented in the USA for bank accounts, and it works, so it could realistically be implemented in Canada but for property... even easier still I think...
- lm411 3y agoI think it's a good idea and I would support it. But something like that would never be implemented by our current government. They'd likely call you racist or xenophobic just for suggesting it. For most Canadians, the next election can't come soon enough. Hopefully the likely to win opposition will make some changes. BTW Canada's SSN equivalent would be the SIN (Social Insurance Number).