Well, rumor has it that Chinese billionaires have been buying up housing in western nations in order to park their money outside of China where the Chinese tax authorities can’t get to it. If that’s true, then that would drive up housing costs in multiple countries at the same time, and those countries’ leaders aren’t stopping it, so those leaders are to blame.
Canada actually passed a law prohibiting foreign buyers of real estate. It hasn’t had much of an effect on housing costs, because when you’re looking at millions and millions of people, a handful of billionaires really doesn’t change the underlying problem very much.
It hasn’t had much of an effect on housing costs because it’s too late. Claw back all the housing they bought up, sell it off to citizens at reasonable prices, and then you’ll see an effect on housing costs.
Foreign owners only account for a small share of the Canadian real estate market. According to Statistics Canada, a government website, non-residents owned 2.2 percent of residential properties in Ontario and 3.1 percent in British Columbia in 2020. The percentages were 2.7 and 4.2 in the Toronto and Vancouver metropolitan areas, respectively.
I’m not personally convinced that freeing up maybe 3% of the housing stock (large amounts of which are probably rented) would have a significant effect on the housing market. Maybe, just maybe, there’s been a chronic lack of new supply for decades?
Well, rumor has it that Chinese billionaires have been buying up housing in western nations in order to park their money outside of China where the Chinese tax authorities can’t get to it. If that’s true, then that would drive up housing costs in multiple countries at the same time, and those countries’ leaders aren’t stopping it, so those leaders are to blame.
Canada actually passed a law prohibiting foreign buyers of real estate. It hasn’t had much of an effect on housing costs, because when you’re looking at millions and millions of people, a handful of billionaires really doesn’t change the underlying problem very much.
It hasn’t had much of an effect on housing costs because it’s too late. Claw back all the housing they bought up, sell it off to citizens at reasonable prices, and then you’ll see an effect on housing costs.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/6/why-is-canada-banning-foreign-homebuyers
I’m not personally convinced that freeing up maybe 3% of the housing stock (large amounts of which are probably rented) would have a significant effect on the housing market. Maybe, just maybe, there’s been a chronic lack of new supply for decades?
Nah, I’m sure it’s just those dastardly Chinese.
Then why is this only now, only abruptly, becoming a problem?