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The 1% buy multiple properties in many different cities. There have been articles about how the City of London has neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment devel

by rdouble 13y ago

The 1% buy multiple properties in many different cities. There have been articles about how the City of London has neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment developments owned by various sheikhs and russian/central asian commodities oligarchs. In SF when you buy a house you are also competing with dozens of investors from overseas paying cash who don't have any intention of ever living there. I believe that the Vancouver real estate market was also affected by overseas investors in a similar way, making it the least affordable housing market in North America. Multiply this speculative real estate investment by 1% of 7 billion and it could very well be a major factor in pushing up rents, especially in certain super desirable cities like Paris. There's about 1.7 million residences there. Even if only 1% of the 1% want a pied a terre there, the rest of the people trying to live there would feel the squeeze. I have personally seen the effects of this. When I lived in on South 4th street in Williamsburg Brooklyn in 1998, my floor through apartment was $700/m. Now the same apartment is renting for $3700 a month. That particular street is still a dump! The only people I know who can afford to live in nice apartments in SoHo or Tribeca are the children of super rich people.

subsystem 13y ago
Note that the City of London is in some ways a tax haven and a neighborhood in London itself.
- contingencies 13y ago
  Interesting tangent! Any refs on the tax situation?
  - CmdrKrool 13y ago
    Here's an article: http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporation-city http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporati...
    - contingencies 13y ago
      Cheers. That one was 'By Nicholas Shaxson Published 24 February 2011', conclusion: UK Uncut, the spontaneous protest movement opposing offshore tax avoidance by multinationals, has had an impact and now pledges to move against the banks. A big "One London" campaign to merge a divided capital into a single democratic entity may seem far off, but groups such as London Citizens are now thinking about the fairer division of London. The Tax Justice Network, and others, are helping build an intellectual edifice for understanding tax havens. Some of their goals - such as country-by-country reporting by multinationals - are already being partly met. The unions, too, and big NGOs, especially those working in international development, are engaging with the matter. An anti-haven mobilisation is under way in France; something similar may be starting in the US. The IMF, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the EU and other agencies are now at least debating issues they ignored before. Around the world, legislators, regulators and ordinary people are starting to see the toxicity of Britain's role in protecting offshore business that drains billions out of developing countries each year. I wonder if there's been any positive development.
  - CmdrKrool 13y ago
    Ooh, and a nice little summary has just popped up on a forum I read: http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2013/6/16/201361614029740734_8.jpg http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2013/6/16/2013616140...
  - diroussel 13y ago
    http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporation-city http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporati...
- mseebach 13y ago
  It's not a tax haven. It's a deeply idiosyncratic entity with a 1000 year long history, but not a tax haven.
twic 13y ago
Nitpick: the City of London does not have neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment developments, because the City of London is the one square mile of the city where the financial industry lives. It's equivalent to the Financial District in New York. The only significant chunk of residential building is the Barbican, which is not empty, just awful. The name of the city as a whole is simply London. You could even call it the city of London if you were being poetic. But as soon as you capitalise it, you're talking about the City of London, and that's something different. Yes, that is confusing, arbitrary, irritating, and only justified by arcane details of history which predate the printing press by five hundred years. That's because this is England we're talking about.
- rdouble 13y ago
  I actually know the difference between City of London and London because I watched that one clever Youtube video explaining it. However, I don't really have the details internalized as I've not been to London. To explain what I meant, I was thinking of this article that I read about One Hyde Park: http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residents-one-hyde-park-london http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residen... I had merged this info in my head with another link that someone else had already posted, about empty buildings in London owned by offshore corporations.
  - EwanG 13y ago
    I wonder if there is a need here for a Luxury AirBnB so that folks who aren't millionaires could spend time in these places that are otherwise going empty. Seems like space could be offered for less than normal rent since anything above $0 would be a gain as long as there was a decent screening process.
    - rdouble 13y ago
      The problem from an urban community building perspective is that the owners of the properties are so rich they don't care if the property is used. It's actually illegal to rent out a pied a terre in Paris.
mafribe 13y ago
Where are these "neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment[s]"? It is true that the The City of London, understood as the financial district of Greater London, doesn't have many residents, but this has always been the case. It has never been a residential area. Almost all housing space there is offices.
- rdouble 13y ago
  I think I combined the info in this article with another article about empty buildings elsewhere in London that someone else pointed out http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residents-one-hyde-park-london http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residen...
msie 13y ago
I believe that the Vancouver real estate market was also affected by overseas investors in a similar way, making it the least affordable housing market in North America. I think the real culprit was mortgage rules that let Canadians borrow cheap money for long periods plus need for all people (not just foreigners) to engage in real estate speculation. Ever since the Canadian federal govt tightened up the mortgage rules the market has been in a slump. But everyone loves to blame the overseas investors. Also people like to cherry pick parts of Vancouver as indicative of the foreign buying trend like the West Side, British Properties and Richmond but they fail to look at East Vancouver, New Westminister and Burnaby which has decent housing as well, but is not as desirable. Edit: I'd also like to point out that some properties are priced high, but no one is buying them. It's also a seller's perception of a hot market that drives up prices.
Tiktaalik 13y ago
There's not a lot of solid data on what degree of Vancouver's housing speculators are overseas investors or local, but there is certainly is a lot of non-resident owners. Non-resident occupancy approaches 24% in certain neighbourhoods of downtown, and these empty neighbourhoods are becoming ghost towns, an awful business environment for local retail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/at-vancouvers-cold-harbour-a-neighbourhood-hollows-out/article11713598/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-est...

by rdouble 13y ago

subsystem 13y ago

Note that the City of London is in some ways a tax haven and a neighborhood in London itself.

contingencies 13y ago
Interesting tangent! Any refs on the tax situation?
- CmdrKrool 13y ago
  Here's an article: http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporation-city http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporati...
  - contingencies 13y ago
    Cheers. That one was 'By Nicholas Shaxson Published 24 February 2011', conclusion: UK Uncut, the spontaneous protest movement opposing offshore tax avoidance by multinationals, has had an impact and now pledges to move against the banks. A big "One London" campaign to merge a divided capital into a single democratic entity may seem far off, but groups such as London Citizens are now thinking about the fairer division of London. The Tax Justice Network, and others, are helping build an intellectual edifice for understanding tax havens. Some of their goals - such as country-by-country reporting by multinationals - are already being partly met. The unions, too, and big NGOs, especially those working in international development, are engaging with the matter. An anti-haven mobilisation is under way in France; something similar may be starting in the US. The IMF, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the EU and other agencies are now at least debating issues they ignored before. Around the world, legislators, regulators and ordinary people are starting to see the toxicity of Britain's role in protecting offshore business that drains billions out of developing countries each year. I wonder if there's been any positive development.
- CmdrKrool 13y ago
  Ooh, and a nice little summary has just popped up on a forum I read: http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2013/6/16/201361614029740734_8.jpg http://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/Images/2013/6/16/2013616140...
- diroussel 13y ago
  http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporation-city http://www.newstatesman.com/economy/2011/02/london-corporati...
mseebach 13y ago
It's not a tax haven. It's a deeply idiosyncratic entity with a 1000 year long history, but not a tax haven.

twic 13y ago

Nitpick: the City of London does not have neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment developments, because the City of London is the one square mile of the city where the financial industry lives. It's equivalent to the Financial District in New York. The only significant chunk of residential building is the Barbican, which is not empty, just awful. The name of the city as a whole is simply London. You could even call it the city of London if you were being poetic. But as soon as you capitalise it, you're talking about the City of London, and that's something different. Yes, that is confusing, arbitrary, irritating, and only justified by arcane details of history which predate the printing press by five hundred years. That's because this is England we're talking about.

rdouble 13y ago
I actually know the difference between City of London and London because I watched that one clever Youtube video explaining it. However, I don't really have the details internalized as I've not been to London. To explain what I meant, I was thinking of this article that I read about One Hyde Park: http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residents-one-hyde-park-london http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residen... I had merged this info in my head with another link that someone else had already posted, about empty buildings in London owned by offshore corporations.
- EwanG 13y ago
  I wonder if there is a need here for a Luxury AirBnB so that folks who aren't millionaires could spend time in these places that are otherwise going empty. Seems like space could be offered for less than normal rent since anything above $0 would be a gain as long as there was a decent screening process.
  - rdouble 13y ago
    The problem from an urban community building perspective is that the owners of the properties are so rich they don't care if the property is used. It's actually illegal to rent out a pied a terre in Paris.

mafribe 13y ago

Where are these "neighborhoods of empty luxury apartment[s]"? It is true that the The City of London, understood as the financial district of Greater London, doesn't have many residents, but this has always been the case. It has never been a residential area. Almost all housing space there is offices.

rdouble 13y ago
I think I combined the info in this article with another article about empty buildings elsewhere in London that someone else pointed out http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residents-one-hyde-park-london http://www.vanityfair.com/society/2013/04/mysterious-residen...

msie 13y ago

I believe that the Vancouver real estate market was also affected by overseas investors in a similar way, making it the least affordable housing market in North America. I think the real culprit was mortgage rules that let Canadians borrow cheap money for long periods plus need for all people (not just foreigners) to engage in real estate speculation. Ever since the Canadian federal govt tightened up the mortgage rules the market has been in a slump. But everyone loves to blame the overseas investors. Also people like to cherry pick parts of Vancouver as indicative of the foreign buying trend like the West Side, British Properties and Richmond but they fail to look at East Vancouver, New Westminister and Burnaby which has decent housing as well, but is not as desirable. Edit: I'd also like to point out that some properties are priced high, but no one is buying them. It's also a seller's perception of a hot market that drives up prices.

Tiktaalik 13y ago

There's not a lot of solid data on what degree of Vancouver's housing speculators are overseas investors or local, but there is certainly is a lot of non-resident owners. Non-resident occupancy approaches 24% in certain neighbourhoods of downtown, and these empty neighbourhoods are becoming ghost towns, an awful business environment for local retail. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-estate/at-vancouvers-cold-harbour-a-neighbourhood-hollows-out/article11713598/ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/home-and-garden/real-est...