(public).sospep.subjects ~ view article ~ vancouver-housing

<h1 style="text-align: center;">vancouver's housing market</h1>
<h2>[WHAT]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] by Don Sagrott, founder @ sospep.com - vancouver's housing market is divorced from the reality of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">economic opportunities</span> that the city offers. This should come as a surprise to no one in Canada/BC and especially not to those living in or near the City of Vancouver(CoV).&nbsp;</li>
<li>] To the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">average Canadians</span> who desire to enter the housing market in this city it is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">an increasingly frustrating experience</span>&nbsp;(quick closing times, intense competition for properties, limited availability, asking prices much lower then actual selling prices, bidding wars, no conditions or subjects, cash deals preferred)</li>
<li>] ... that will likely have <span style="text-decoration: underline;">long term <strong>consequences</strong></span> on the city itself.&nbsp;</li>
<li>] Already there are many signs of a <span style="text-decoration: underline;">growing <strong>exodus</strong></span> of the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">creative, talented, energetic, artistic and ambitious people</span> that have contributed to making the city what it is today.&nbsp;</li>
<li>] That is NOT too say that <span style="text-decoration: underline;">the current <strong>situation</strong></span> does not have it <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">benefactor's</span></strong>, it most certainly does. With a home ownership rate of approx 70%, many Vancouverites are sitting on / realizing huge gains in their personal wealth due to soaring real estate values. For new comer to the city and up and comers in the city, the home ownership outlook is much bleaker.&nbsp;</li>
<li>]&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<h2>[WHY - the causes]</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong>] supply VS demand</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;<a href="/view/article?id=5046" target="_blank">Demand is currently at record high levels, supply is at record low levels.</a></li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] foreign investment</strong>&nbsp;</li>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;Vancouver is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">an especially desireable market</span> for a very large (and growing) population of wealthy Chinese buyers.&nbsp;</li>
<li>] Chinese love to invest in Real Estate.</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] speculation</strong>&nbsp;</li>
<ol>
<li>] the Vancouver real estate market has consistently seen outsized gains in value over a multi year period of time. If you had many millions of dollars of capital to invest, at a time when interest rates were at a historic low, why would you not look at parking it in one of the historically safest investment vehicles that exist?&nbsp;</li>
<li>] If you had a few million dollars (or access to it) and wanted to play "real estate flipper", your chances of success in a market that is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">rapidily appreciating</span> and with <span style="text-decoration: underline;">"seemingly insatiable demand"</span> are likely quite good. &nbsp;</li>
<li>] If you were in the business of restoring/rebuilding and then reselling homes, where is the best place in Canada to do that?</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] corruption</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] There is speculation and some evidence that <strong>money laundering</strong> and <span style="text-decoration: underline;">other elements of criminal activity</span> are being funneled through Vancouver's real estate market.&nbsp;</li>
<li><strong>] <a href="/view/article?id=4995" target="_blank">shadow flipping</a></strong> - is a practice brought to light by Kathy Tomlinson reporting for theglobeandmail where a house is sold to a buyer and then resold to another buyer (and possibly another) before the initial deal closes. While not technically illegal, the ethics of the practice are questionable</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] policy - federal / provincial / municipal</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] <strong>previous federal investor immigration program(CIIP)</strong> - aka "how to buy a Canadian citizenship" -&nbsp;where foreigners can bypass the Canadian immigration system and buy a canadian passport under the guise of "business investment"&nbsp;(woo hoo job creation, amirite?)- but business investment turns out to be loaning the Canadian government 800K for 5 years at 0% interest and your Passport is on its way. This was <strong>one of the most popular and least expensive II programs ever created and brought hundreds of thousands of newcomers to Canada</strong>, primarily to Vancouver/Toronto/Montreal. In 2010, the programs requirements were changed and the program was temporarily suspended by the Harper Conservative government. It was then cancelled on 2014-06-19 with the passing of Bill-C-31. The revised program with much stricter requirements had recieved only ### applications in its first ## months of operation.&nbsp;</li>
<ol>
<li>] &nbsp; "vancouver house" for wife/kids, jobs created = 0.0 &nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li>] <strong>current provincial(Quebec) investor immigration program(QIIP)</strong> - is a copy of Canada's program and still active. Their is no requirement for these business investors to stay in Quebec and the majority of those using this program don't. Although the numbers are much smaller, the majority of thes "investors" are still coming from China and going to Vancouver.</li>
<li>] <strong>municipal</strong> - &nbsp;] slow permitting process, ] questionable zoning density, ] citizen NIMBY&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] desireability</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] vancouver is consistently ranked by independant third party sources as one of the most desirable cities to live in the world. &nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] low interest rates</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;</li>
</ol></ol>
<h2>[WHY NOT - the solution]</h2>
<div><ol>
<li><strong>] supply VS demand</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] zoning density -&nbsp;</li>
<li>] building permit process -&nbsp;</li>
<li>] vacant housing penalty -&nbsp;</li>
<li>] ALR -&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] foreign investment</strong>&nbsp;</li>
<ol>
<li>] disallow -&nbsp;</li>
<li>] limit -&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] speculation</strong>&nbsp;</li>
<ol>
<li>] when the market cools off and vancouver real estate doesn't appreciate in value in double digit percentages on an annual basis, then some of the speculation should die down as well, in the mean time ...&nbsp;</li>
<li>] NEW TAX ! = &nbsp;if you sell your house within 5 years of purchasing it, you pay 50% of any value gained as tax.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] corruption&nbsp;</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] money laundering - the Canadian government has signed an agreement with the Chinese government to share recaptured cash brought into Canada by Chinese citizens illegally moving capital out of China. How is that going so far?&nbsp;</li>
<li>] shadow flipping - ] prov gov has introduced new regulations, ]&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] policy - federal / provincial / municipal</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] fed has = ] increased down payment requirements for properties valued over 1M from 5 - 10% (on amount over 1M)&nbsp;</li>
<li>] fed should =&nbsp;</li>
<li>] prov has = ] increased PTT on sales over 1M from 2 - 3%, ] introduced new regulations to address the practice of shadow flipping, ] announced 400M for affordable housing for the region</li>
<li>] prov should = &nbsp;</li>
<li>] local has = &nbsp;]&nbsp;</li>
<li>] local should = ]&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] desireability</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] desireability is a good thing! It wouldnt make sense to intentionally do things to make your city less desireable.&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>] low interest rates</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;</li>
</ol></ol></div>
<h2>[WHERE]</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong>] READ THE FULL ARTICLE</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>]&nbsp;</li>
</ol></ol>
<h2>[WHEN]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] 2016-02-02</li>
</ol>
<h2>[EXAMPLE]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] <a href="/view/task?id=6153" target="_blank">ELI5-why is vancouvers housing market f***d?</a></li>
<li>] should i buy now?</li>
<li>] should i sell now?</li>
<li>] how long will this market last?&nbsp;</li>
<li>]&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<h2>[HOW-TO - fix the problem, by ...]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] political intervention - foreign investment - stopped/limited/controlled -&nbsp;</li>
<li>] political intervention - speculation - taxed to the max -&nbsp;</li>
<li>] politcial intervention - vacant housing policy-&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<h2>[REFERENCE]</h2>
<ol>
<li><strong>[2015-03-20] NEW task</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>x] # 5984 - CREATE-<a href="/view/task?id=5984" target="_blank">article# 4945 - vancouvers-housing-market</a>(this), task created 2016-02-09</li>
</ol>
<li><strong>[2016-mm-dd] vancouver-housing - category</strong></li>
<ol>
<li>] # # - article-title - ] by __ @ __ -&nbsp;</li>
</ol>
<li>[2016-05-14] canadas investor immigration program - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Immigrant_Investor_Program</li>
</ol>
<h2>[RELATED]</h2>
<ol>
<li>] # 5040 - <a href="/view/article?id=5040" target="_blank">vancouver-housing-LIST-articles</a></li>
</ol>

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