In a six-month period, 70% of detached homes sold in Vancouver’s west side went to Mainland China bu - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49042576]what benefit would this have minus antagonizing immigrants and various racial minorities[/QUOTE] If you paid attention he said foreigners, not immigrants. I disagree with what he said but people from China are literally eating up real estate and sitting on it, not even using it or physically being present there; just empty houses, waiting to be occupied.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;49042785]Nothing will be done. Vancouver is literally the most out of touch city.[/QUOTE] you're right don't they plan on knocking out a major or two highway?

[QUOTE=theevilldeadII;49043599]you're right don't they plan on knocking out a major or two highway?[/QUOTE] Yeah, our viaducts, without any real solution being offered for their replacement. Our traffic will stay #1 worst in North America this way at least

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49043379]wasn't in your post before you edited it, but ye i see it now you might not be, but as for others: i've never advocated for the "totally free market" lol, anybody who does that is a loony and while there can be regulations introduced, banning chinese people from buying houses is absurd and won't do anything to fix it that was the original point being addressed earlier on by some of the kneejerk idiots who think china is going to turn canada into a colony[/QUOTE] Hey man, for the record I was kidding lol.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49043379]wasn't in your post before you edited it, but ye i see it now you might not be, but as for others: i've never advocated for the "totally free market" lol, anybody who does that is a loony and while there can be regulations introduced, banning chinese people from buying houses is absurd and won't do anything to fix it that was the original point being addressed earlier on by some of the kneejerk idiots who think china is going to turn canada into a colony[/QUOTE] You're right, it would just be other investors moving in from the US, Europe, Russia, and other parts of Canada (even BC). If you dissuade foreigners from purchasing property you can certainly do damage to your real estate values, which can cause even bigger issues for locals. I'm empathetic however, as I live in an area with a similar issue. When an investor buys a property they suddenly have a stake in local policy and will almost always try to influence it, this is the dangerous part where I completely understand the concern. Hopefully their government will be more attentive to the situation, but probably not because all of the right people are making money.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49043062]you do realise that rich canadians would just buy the housing instead[/QUOTE] Fun fact: A Vancouver family with an annual income of $110000 will end up spending 80% of that annually just on their mortgage. Basically unless you're working the REALLY elusive jobs you cannot afford to own your own home. Considering the existence of the Downtown East Side (Canada's poorest postal code) it looks really bad when multimillion dollar condos back onto buildings which should be condemned but are crammed full of low income apartments.

This shit is happening all over the western world, the UK and Australia too. It needs to stop.

[QUOTE=Johnny Guitar;49043579]If you paid attention he said foreigners, not immigrants.[/QUOTE] Well yeah, but it's pretty obvious that as a policy it would target Chinese people, and then there's the issue that there are a lot of Chinese immigrants in the city. Yes it technically targets "foreigners", but really that's codeword for "Chinese people". I doubt the policy would extend to ban Americans and Brits too (and if it did, I can imagine them finding many more loopholes and circumvention than Chinese people can). As a policy it would almost certainly indirectly affect Chinese immigrants and immigration. Remember, this study didn't use citizenship: [quote]Canada does not collect data on foreign ownership, and the [b]citizenship of buyers in Yan’s study is not clear.[/b] But Yan established that [b]66 per cent of all buyers had “non-anglicized” Mainland China names.[/b][/quote] This doesn't really mean all that much considering that immigrants and people already living in Canada can have "non-anglicized" names. The study uses a questionable method of differing between immigrants and between people who live in China but buy housing from overseas. Remember that about 15% of Vancouver is fluent in Chinese, and about 30% are Ethnic Chinese by birth. As this figure continues to grow, the call for racist policies is only going to increase (especially considering that shit like this happens): [url]http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/go-away-chinese-ads-defaced-with-racist-messages-in-nanaimo-1.2424140[/url] [url]http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Most+Chinese+South+Asians+report+discrimination/10294503/story.html[/url] People need to stop pretending that racism isn't involved.

I spoke at length about this tactic with a guy from Hong Kong last year. Guy had quite a bit of hate for the Chinese just because of what they'd pulled since he was old enough to be politically aware (about 5 years ago). Apparently China has been aggressively buying in HK since military or political dominance of the state isn't going to work. They're taking over the economy of a foreign country. We're simply lucky that Canada, the USA and to a lesser extent the UK are much larger economies than Hong Kong.

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49045504]Well yeah, but it's pretty obvious that as a policy it would target Chinese people, and then there's the issue that there are a lot of Chinese immigrants in the city. Yes it technically targets "foreigners", but really that's codeword for "Chinese people". I doubt the policy would extend to ban Americans and Brits too (and if it did, I can imagine them finding many more loopholes and circumvention than Chinese people can). As a policy it would almost certainly indirectly affect Chinese immigrants and immigration. Remember, this study didn't use citizenship: This doesn't really mean all that much considering that immigrants and people already living in Canada can have "non-anglicized" names. The study uses a questionable method of differing between immigrants and between people who live in China but buy housing from overseas. Remember that about 15% of Vancouver is fluent in Chinese, and about 30% are Ethnic Chinese by birth. As this figure continues to grow, the call for racist policies is only going to increase (especially considering that shit like this happens): [url]http://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/go-away-chinese-ads-defaced-with-racist-messages-in-nanaimo-1.2424140[/url] [url]http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Most+Chinese+South+Asians+report+discrimination/10294503/story.html[/url] People need to stop pretending that racism isn't involved.[/QUOTE] People in this city are by and large not racist, but they're being pushed out of their homes. How do you expect anyone to take that well

I think people underestimate the complexity of this issue. If you wanted to suddenly stop foreigners from purchasing property, what do you do about current property owned by foreign entities? Do you repatriate it? What about foreigners who want to move and buy property close to their family that already lives there? I'm guessing a many Chinese investors send their loved ones over for medical care as the national health system in Canada is much more effective and robust than China's. If you try to fix the issue blocking foreign investors, you come up with a whole different array of issues. I'm not trying to minimize what is happening, it's just obvious this issue isn't quite that simple.

Happening in Australia too. A lot of Mainland Chinese buying up property for investment. Or rich kids using their daddy's money.

typical 富二代 spending their parents money :^)

Yes. Now i can learn chinese without going to china.

[QUOTE=proboardslol;49042588]Odd situation... I don't see harm in it? Unless it's one real estate company buying the property for... whatever reasons... Inflating the price of real estate so he can sell off the property at arbitrary and uncompetitive prices? If it's just a bunch of Chinese people want to live in Vancouver, I don't see the issue edit: ah. It's just tax evasion. Close those loopholes then.[/QUOTE] They don't though, they want to hide their savings in real estate which can be incredibly bad for the Chinese economy if oh idk housing prices ever go down

[QUOTE=Funcoot;49045728]I think people underestimate the complexity of this issue. If you wanted to suddenly stop foreigners from purchasing property, what do you do about current property owned by foreign entities? Do you repatriate it? What about foreigners who want to move and buy property close to their family that already lives there? I'm guessing a many Chinese investors send their loved ones over for medical care as the national health system in Canada is much more effective and robust than China's. If you try to fix the issue blocking foreign investors, you come up with a whole different array of issues. I'm not trying to minimize what is happening, it's just obvious this issue isn't quite that simple.[/QUOTE] Holy shit you can just go to Canada and be able to get the health care stuff without having to wait to become a citizen? Forgive my ignorance. I just don't know how easy it is [editline]d[/editline] From looking on google: looks like it's a pretty lenient wait time to get the free health care as a resident. Damn, that's awesome. [quote=cic]Residents in some provinces must wait a certain period (up to three months) before receiving government health insurance (contact your provincial or territorial ministry of health to know how long you will need to wait). Make sure you have private health insurance to cover your health-care needs during this waiting period. [URL]http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/after-health.asp[/URL] [/quote]

[QUOTE=ashxu;49045737]Happening in Australia too. A lot of Mainland Chinese buying up property for investment. Or rich kids using their daddy's money.[/QUOTE] Sure is. I've been in real estate 15 years, and the southern states have it bad - the capital cities (Sydney for example) are rampant within Chinese 'investors' buying almost everything up. They pay ridiculous money, well above actual value, essentially artificially inflating the real estate market into a false bubble and forcing all genuine local investors to seek property elsewhere like up north. I'm in QLD and no joke, just about every second person I deal with right now is someone from Sydney or Melbourne looking for property up this way because the Chinese have bought out everything worth having at this point. A 2 bedroom home near Sydney on a 500sqm block of land is going for ridiculous prices like $1.5m... I went into our reporting system and looked up buyer details on some, sure enough, almost entirely Chinese buyers. Last 2 people I had through a house I have for sale in my little suburb here were Chinese too, both up from Sydney. It's getting ridiculous.

[QUOTE=MatheusMCardoso;49045941]Yes. Now i can learn chinese without going to china.[/QUOTE] Then work for the CIA or your nations equivalent to spy on them when you get older.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;49042132]Canada needs to ban foreigners from owning property.[/QUOTE] It would be very difficult to enforce this. All it would take would be establishing a new corporate structure based in Canada instead of China, and bam, now it's a domestic company purchasing the homes, even though the purchasing power and decisionmaking is still coming from abroad. Saying that no foreigner could establish a corporate structure within your country, besides sounding pretty damn disastrous from a foreign relations standpoint and damning the many legitimate business interests that operate internationally, would also be fairly easy to skirt around through the use of intermediaries. Chinese company hires Canadian citizen to establish corporate structure for them, and funnels all money and administrative decisions through him.

[QUOTE=Rangergxi;49042132]Canada needs to ban foreigners from owning property.[/QUOTE] I think too many people are caught up in the semantics of this post (re: foreigners) and not really what the post is about. I don't think it's fair that [QUOTE=The golden;49043039]That would be up for debate but I think everyone can agree that owning land when you spend more than 3/4 of the year in another country is horseshit. Even more so when that property sits completely abandoned almost all year long. (Which they do. Vancouver is full the brim of houses that sit completely empty). My dad is a tradesman and has worked in some of these houses before. Many don't even have furniture in them because there is no reason to buy any, nobody will ever live in them. He said sometimes you see a mattress on the bare floor and maybe a table or two, but that's about it.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=The golden;49042981]The benefit would be so Canadians can actually afford to live on their own soil and don't get shoved off by people that don't even live here. I live in Vancouver. It's a fucking joke. [B]There are entire neighborhoods full of empty houses[/B] because the owners don't even live in Canada.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=pentium;49044956]Fun fact: A Vancouver family with an annual income of $110000 will end up spending 80% of that annually just on their mortgage. Basically unless you're working the REALLY elusive jobs you cannot afford to own your own home. Considering the existence of the Downtown East Side (Canada's poorest postal code) it looks really bad when multimillion dollar condos back onto buildings which should be condemned but are crammed full of low income apartments.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=ashxu;49045737]Happening in Australia too. A lot of Mainland Chinese buying up property for investment. Or rich kids using their daddy's money.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Sobek-;49046493]Sure is. I've been in real estate 15 years, and the southern states have it bad - the capital cities (Sydney for example) are rampant within Chinese 'investors' buying almost everything up. They pay ridiculous money, well above actual value, essentially artificially inflating the real estate market into a false bubble and forcing all genuine local investors to seek property elsewhere like up north. I'm in QLD and no joke, just about every second person I deal with right now is someone from Sydney or Melbourne looking for property up this way because the Chinese have bought out everything worth having at this point. A 2 bedroom home near Sydney on a 500sqm block of land is going for ridiculous prices like $1.5m... I went into our reporting system and looked up buyer details on some, sure enough, almost entirely Chinese buyers. Last 2 people I had through a house I have for sale in my little suburb here were Chinese too, both up from Sydney. It's getting ridiculous.[/QUOTE] Are the most common anecdotes among people this is affecting. I mean, whole neighborhoods of empty houses. Obviously specifically targeting groups of people with limitations is never okay, but if foreign interests are wreaking havoc on the economy, then it shouldn't really matter what race they are, should it? It's a complex issue, sure, and simply slapping a "no non-canadian businesses" wouldn't work (see BDA's post about new corporate in Canada and etc), but of all the reasons to dismiss it, your best reasoning is that it sounds racist and implicitly targets Chinese? Please. Either you haven't thought this through, Sobotnik, or you're just being intellectually dishonest.

[QUOTE=Gray Altoid;49047575]but of all the reasons to dismiss it, your best reasoning is that it sounds racist and implicitly targets Chinese? Please. Either you haven't thought this through, Sobotnik, or you're just being intellectually dishonest.[/QUOTE] i covered earlier that it wouldn't work for basically the same reason as in BDAs post they'll just use some form of proxy, and literally the only thing that "banning foreigners from owning property" will do is piss off the chinese people in the city and worsen the deteriorating racial relations it's intellectually dishonest to pretend that there isn't racism involved when chinese people are reporting discrimination and that its on the rise (with chinese language adverts being defaced for instance). if you introduced a law to ban specifically chinese people from owning property it would cause a shitstorm, but if you word it like "ban foreigners" it does the same thing despite sounding neutral.

This happens in the UK too, we have a massive housing crisis in that prices are skyrocketing, unfortunately any new affordable builds are instantly bought up by foreign investors who rent them out for high prices so people are forced to either pay a huge mortage for unnaffordable housing or pay high rent in mediocre accomodation. Also because these landlords are often on the otherside of the planet it means any kind of renovations or repairs that need to done won't be

[QUOTE=Kite_shugo;49046393]Holy shit you can just go to Canada and be able to get the health care stuff without having to wait to become a citizen? Forgive my ignorance. I just don't know how easy it is [editline]d[/editline] From looking on google: looks like it's a pretty lenient wait time to get the free health care as a resident. Damn, that's awesome.[/QUOTE] Looks like someone just discovered something called medical tourism (which is becoming increasingly popular in Canada). Canada is a popular place for good reason. Again, I empathize with the issue, mainly because I secretly dreamed of living in Vancouver one day as well.

I actually briefly looked into vancouver for work because it was such a good job market for what I want to get into and the location is beautiful. I decided against when I saw the cost of rent & living there is so high that even rooming with a bunch of people you are basically just getting by unless you make $75K+, and good luck living on your own without a 6 figure salary.

[QUOTE=KorJax;49048299]I actually briefly looked into vancouver for work because it was such a good job market for what I want to get into and the location is beautiful. I decided against when I saw the cost of rent & living there is so high that even rooming with a bunch of people you are basically just getting by unless you make $75K+, and good luck living on your own without a 6 figure salary.[/QUOTE] The average joe making 70,000 a year is spending crisis levels, aka over 50%, on rent.

[QUOTE=Jon27;49045533]I spoke at length about this tactic with a guy from Hong Kong last year. Guy had quite a bit of hate for the Chinese just because of what they'd pulled since he was old enough to be politically aware (about 5 years ago). Apparently China has been aggressively buying in HK since military or political dominance of the state isn't going to work. They're taking over the economy of a foreign country. We're simply lucky that Canada, the USA and to a lesser extent the UK are much larger economies than Hong Kong.[/QUOTE] Huh? I'm pretty sure the property values in HK are because a single guy went buying up as much land as he could and now he jacks rent up so much that the average citizen spends 70 percent of their income on housing expenses If anything the Chinese are doing Hong Kong a service through their gradual takeover, this guy will eventually have to just retire and HK housing can stop being so inflated

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;49042576]what benefit would this have minus antagonizing immigrants and various racial minorities[/QUOTE] Nice job shoehorning racism into a comment about domestic vs foreign ownership of property.

One things for certain. Having some sort of federally overseen foreign investment review board (like we do down here, that goes by the same name, aka FIRB) to ensure that all of the requirements to owning property here are adhered to (i.e, must live in the residence for a certain period of time to retain ownership of said property) to keep in check that not all residential dwellings are not bought out and then left as an empty shell from it being a mere investment property.

[QUOTE=shutter_eye5;49052323]One things for certain. Having some sort of federally overseen foreign investment review board (like we do down here, that goes by the same name, aka FIRB) to ensure that all of the requirements to owning property here are adhered to (i.e, must live in the residence for a certain period of time to retain ownership of said property) to keep in check that not all residential dwellings are not bought out and then left as an empty shell from it being a mere investment property.[/QUOTE] That sounds exactly like what Vancouver needs.