Canada now bans foreigners from buying houses- should we do the same?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Suspect the move by the Canadian government will actually have minimal impact. Anyone seen any stats about the actual number of properties owned by overseas buyers?

Canada's population grew by 1.8 million in the 5 years to 2021. It's probably easier to blame overseas buyers for rising house prices rather than admit that new construction simply hasn't kept up with the influx of immigrants. Governments are pretty bad at planning for population growth. Couple that with the impact of Airbnb, lack of suitable space (no building on flood plains please!), regulations, NIMBYism and the difficulty of dislodging aging babyboomers from their big 4 bedroom homes to make way for families.

I thought the purpose was to make the housing market sane again, not to get immigrants out. Young people cannot afford houses because they are all turning into rentals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Suspect the move by the Canadian government will actually have minimal impact. Anyone seen any stats about the actual number of properties owned by overseas buyers?

Canada's population grew by 1.8 million in the 5 years to 2021. It's probably easier to blame overseas buyers for rising house prices rather than admit that new construction simply hasn't kept up with the influx of immigrants. Governments are pretty bad at planning for population growth. Couple that with the impact of Airbnb, lack of suitable space (no building on flood plains please!), regulations, NIMBYism and the difficulty of dislodging aging babyboomers from their big 4 bedroom homes to make way for families.

I thought the purpose was to make the housing market sane again, not to get immigrants out. Young people cannot afford houses because they are all turning into rentals.

"Earlier this year, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that 3.5 million more homes would need to be built by 2030 to achieve affordability for all Canadians, but campaigns around housing affordability “have focused on demand suppression, like our foreign-buyer taxes, and they’re politically favorable,” said Kevin Crigger, president of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board, an industry association. “But for the last decade, we’ve called on government to look at supply.”

It's just easier for governments to blame foreigners rather than implement measures that address the issue in its full magnitude.

[Anonymous]

Ban foreigners from buying houses? Hey, hey, what's your problem, man? You're going to screw Trump out of his Russian oligarch money laundering channel that way!

[Anonymous]

I mean this has been done in other countries too. For example if you are a foreigner Singapore will slap a hefty tax making the house even more expensive. There’s also a tax on a second home and investments. I am all for making housing affordable for younger people.

[Anonymous]

Immigrants and permanent residnets can still purchase homes.

"The law provides exceptions for home purchases by immigrants and permanent residents of Canada who are not citizens."

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/01/business/canada-bans-home-purchases-foreigners/index.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What we need to ban are Air BnBs, short term rentals, home flipping, and corporations from owning homes.

Home flipping? You mean renovating dilapidated housing so it can be used for the next generation? Not too smart to ban that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The wealthy Rs would never go for this. Think about all the rich Russians, Saudis, Chinese that some Rs get money from. Trump owes money to foreign nationals/banks from all 3 of those countries. Those rich people all own property in the US.

Only R politicians have support from other countries?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The wealthy Rs would never go for this. Think about all the rich Russians, Saudis, Chinese that some Rs get money from. Trump owes money to foreign nationals/banks from all 3 of those countries. Those rich people all own property in the US.

Only R politicians have support from other countries?

Exactly. These twits are pushing their usual narrative that Republicans are "dirty rotten scoundrels" while Democrats are angels with clean hands. So absurd.

[Anonymous]

I wonder what the policy is in the UK. London's high-end real estate is owned mainly by Russians and middle-Easterners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What we need to ban are Air BnBs, short term rentals, home flipping, and corporations from owning homes.

Home flipping? You mean renovating dilapidated housing so it can be used for the next generation? Not too smart to ban that.

Oh please, the vast majority of home flippers buy up affordable housing stocks, do shitty surface level changes with cheap garbage from Home Depot, then immediately try to jack up the price by 40% 3 months later. Flippers are scum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I met a guy (covered in tats and didn’t look like he had any money) on a flight from DC to Dallas. He was flying to Dallas to check on his rental properties. He owns 40+ properties, essentially controlling the FMR in one neighborhood.

I was staying in a nice suburb in Dallas and my friend who was hosting me told me the bulk of the SFH neighborhood was owned by a few Asian families who rent out the properties. Rents have jumped dramatically and they quickly purchase any homes that go on the market.

This is a problem.

capitalism at its finest. Also, how do you know if the "Asian" families aren't Asian Americans? Because they have accents?

Sounds like you aren't aware of how much capital Chinese are trying to take out of their country due to various issues of how the money was gained. The Chinese government has been trying to put a stop to it.

Sounds like you are still making assumptions about a nonwhite person's status in this country.

Can the ^PP be certain that the Asian families in Dallas that are buying up sfh are not Americans?

When you see a latino, do you automatically assume "illegal"?

When you see a black person, do you automatically assume "criminal"?

I'm Chinese. There's a ton of people who are doing exactly what I said or have family members providing funds that will be out of CCP reach.

And to answer your question yes.

Yes, you know definitely those families are not American citizens or permanent residents?
Yes , you assume every latino is illegal?
Yes, you assume every black person is a criminal?

yes, I know foreigners do this. My question is how do you know those particular people are "foreigners" and not residents or citizens.

My parents are Asian Americans. They don't speak much English. They own property. One day, they are thinking of going back to their home country to live and renting out their place. I suppose you'd assume my parents were "foreigners" buying up property and renting it out.

In our language, people who aren't Chinese are 外国人 which means they are foreigners.

So yes, they are foreigners. Living in America, we call you Americans 外国人 as well.
So the answer remains, yes.

None the less, you don't seem to want to acknowledge the point raised that there are a lot of Chinese who are converting cash to physical assets overseas. There is an additional issue that many of these properties are not maintained, but it is largely done to shield improperly gained funds. CCP has a habit of siezing funds as well. Look at Jack Ma of Alibaba.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what the policy is in the UK. London's high-end real estate is owned mainly by Russians and middle-Easterners.

The UK, like the US, wants to be a place where all the dirty money in the world can be laundered. It’s not dirty if we get a cut.

[Anonymous]

Yes. A million times, yes. Foreign governments too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep.

Ban foreign nationals as well as investors (including Americans). It’s not just airbnbs; regular joes have amassed huge portfolios of housing they rent out, driving rentals as well as purchase price up.

We should have addressed this issue during the early 2000s housing bubble. It’s a little late now, but still worth a shot.

People should only be allowed to own 3 homes; that gives wiggle room to own a vacation home and rental property. And no loopholes for corporations.

The SF Bay Area prices were driven up by foreign investors. Ditto for countless other cities. It’s a crisis.

Exactly this. People who live and work here can’t compete with foreign money. And if nothing changes, Americans will be sending rent payments to China. It’s the biggest crisis that gets ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought Canada was more hospitable to immigrants?

This is bizarre. I don’t know what to make of this.

???

They are trying to address a housing crisis. Nothing bizarre about it. Foreign nationals aren’t entitled to homes.

No one lives there. It’s a huge country and has less people than California.