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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was talking to a trucker the other day who’s a foreigner. You’d be surprised at the amount of help the government gives immigrants regarding funding, credit scores, etc. More than our own citizens.

Really? I would like to know about all these amazing sources of funding. My spouse and I bought a home while we were on work visas and it looks like the government aid ship sailed by us.

You were on a work visa and legal. You did it wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was talking to a trucker the other day who’s a foreigner. You’d be surprised at the amount of help the government gives immigrants regarding funding, credit scores, etc. More than our own citizens.

Really? I would like to know about all these amazing sources of funding. My spouse and I bought a home while we were on work visas and it looks like the government aid ship sailed by us.

Same here! Clearly I’m a ‘not so smart’ foreigner if I missed this boat!

They are granted stellar credit ratings with no need to build it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canada just passed a law barring foreigners from owning houses.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/29/realestate/canada-bans-foreign-buyers.html

Housing prices are so expensive which makes it difficult to enter the housing market. A substantial number of houses are bought with cash only. Many of those sales are from foreign buyers. Would housing be slightly more affordable if foreign buyers are barred from buying houses?

Why would you want to ban those millions of immigrants who crossed the border from buying housing? This is very discriminatory. These people work in US, pay taxes in US, they should be allowed to buy the house to raise their families.

If you read the article you would see they aren’t targeting immigrants. If you want to immigrate, settle down and live in Canada you can buy a house. They don’t want foreigners who don’t live in Canada to buy property. Big difference between immigrant and foreigner

Neither foreigners no immigrants who entered through the southern border have legal status in US. They both should be allowed to purchase a real estate if they have cash to pay for it, regardless if those money comes from China, Russia, El Salvador or Columbia.

[Anonymous]

This is not about immigration it is about foreign investment taking away wealth opportunities from citizens. And the worst part is that since the US didnt manage this prior any regulations on it will cause prices to drop with an influx of housing and properties (in theory) causing those who bought at the top of the market to possibly have a larger mortgage compared to any potential sale price.

We are so busy dealing with manufactured crises that we can't deal with real issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:foreigners and corporations. Corporations can own apartment buildings, not single family homes, townhomes, or condos.

Do LLCs count as corporations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:foreigners and corporations. Corporations can own apartment buildings, not single family homes, townhomes, or condos.

Do LLCs count as corporations?

Yes. "The main difference between an LLC and a corporation is that an llc is owned by one or more individuals, and a corporation is owned by its shareholders. " So again, YES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not about immigration it is about foreign investment taking away wealth opportunities from citizens. And the worst part is that since the US didnt manage this prior any regulations on it will cause prices to drop with an influx of housing and properties (in theory) causing those who bought at the top of the market to possibly have a larger mortgage compared to any potential sale price.

We are so busy dealing with manufactured crises that we can't deal with real issues.

This, this, this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I did acknowledge it. Read the bolded in my previous response.

you don't want to seem to acknowledge that you don't who is or who is not an American or legal resident here just by the way they look or their accent.

If you google, you’ll pull up plenty of recent articles pointing to data of foreign nationals buying real estate here. They specifically note Chinese purchasers—to the tune of $6B last year alone. These aren’t Chinese-Americans; these are foreigners who are parking money in American real estate as an investment.

As I stated, I acknowledge that this happens. But, the ^PP or you assumed that this was happening in that Dallas neighborhood. So, then I asked, how do you know for sure that those people are not US residents/citizens.

You then just keep posting that this happens, even though I stated repeatedly that yes, it does happen.

So, again, "how do you know that those specific people in that Dallas neighborhood are not US residents?"

Are you making an assumption based on 1. it happens 2. those people are foreign looking and speak a foreign language? Are you stereotyping?

Which is why asked if you assume that:
1. Every latino is an illegal
2. Every black person is a criminal

[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.

Most countries are much more strict when it comes to immigration compared to the US.
People try to spin this narrative that it is a moral failing that is uniquely America to want to protect our borders or to not accept everyone with open arms no questions asked and no hoops to jump through.

DP.. you are spinning this into an immigration issue, when the article is about foreigners who don't live in Canada, so not immigrants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not about immigration it is about foreign investment taking away wealth opportunities from citizens. And the worst part is that since the US didnt manage this prior any regulations on it will cause prices to drop with an influx of housing and properties (in theory) causing those who bought at the top of the market to possibly have a larger mortgage compared to any potential sale price.

We are so busy dealing with manufactured crises that we can't deal with real issues.

This.

But it’s bigger than foreign nationals.

The real issue is real estate has become a lucrative investment for individuals and corporations, and the end result is housing stock being controlled by people seeking to make money.

It’s a crisis. But nobody is addressing it.

Instead the policy wonks and advocates and legislators will focus on bandaid approaches like tax incentives, housing trust funds, mixed use development, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

This makes more sense than banning

Lol.

A hefty tax on the super wealthy foreigners buying real estate in the US won’t fix the problem. Chinese buyers alone spent $6B in housing purchases in 2022 with an average purchase price of $1M.

Well, it won't fix the housing problem, but maybe we could use that hefty tax to solve the schooling problem. Which would eventually help more Americans have more money to buy housing. So it's not a bad compromise solution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not about immigration it is about foreign investment taking away wealth opportunities from citizens. And the worst part is that since the US didnt manage this prior any regulations on it will cause prices to drop with an influx of housing and properties (in theory) causing those who bought at the top of the market to possibly have a larger mortgage compared to any potential sale price.

We are so busy dealing with manufactured crises that we can't deal with real issues.

This.

But it’s bigger than foreign nationals.

The real issue is real estate has become a lucrative investment for individuals and corporations, and the end result is housing stock being controlled by people seeking to make money.

It’s a crisis. But nobody is addressing it.

Instead the policy wonks and advocates and legislators will focus on bandaid approaches like tax incentives, housing trust funds, mixed use development, etc.

because otherwise it's anti-capitalism to restrict corporations from buying properties and renting them out. The Trump family, Kushners, they all had rental properties that they rented out.

[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.

Ding ding ding.

Expensive housing is a supply issue. Especially in liberal cities where regulations make it unprofitable to build any new housing stock other than expensive single family homes and luxury apartments for well-off young professionals.

Blaming foreigners and AirBnB for lack of supply is nonsensical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is not about immigration it is about foreign investment taking away wealth opportunities from citizens. And the worst part is that since the US didnt manage this prior any regulations on it will cause prices to drop with an influx of housing and properties (in theory) causing those who bought at the top of the market to possibly have a larger mortgage compared to any potential sale price.

We are so busy dealing with manufactured crises that we can't deal with real issues.

This.

But it’s bigger than foreign nationals.

The real issue is real estate has become a lucrative investment for individuals and corporations, and the end result is housing stock being controlled by people seeking to make money.

It’s a crisis. But nobody is addressing it.

Instead the policy wonks and advocates and legislators will focus on bandaid approaches like tax incentives, housing trust funds, mixed use development, etc.

because otherwise it's anti-capitalism to restrict corporations from buying properties and renting them out. The Trump family, Kushners, they all had rental properties that they rented out.

Most of these properties aren't rentals. That are purchased and left empty as a way to move capital out of China

[Anonymous]

It's purely a political game in response to increasing Chinese and Indian immigration to Canada, and it's 100% xenophobic.

The reality is that because of the pandemic, foreigners have NOT been flocking to buy real estate in Canada. Canadians have! They've had the same issue we had, with Canadians wanting larger homes/condos, and real estate prices shooting up in response to delivery issues and materials/labor shortages.

Shame on Trudeau. I like him, but this time, because he had a hard time getting re-elected, he pandered to the xenophobic impulses of his constituents.