Armada Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Metro Vancouver residents are running out of options when it comes to buying a home, and Premier Christy Clark is not about to help. With housing prices climbing dramatically – up 12 per cent from 2014 as of April – those fed up with the unaffordability of Vancouver have been asking for help from municipal, provincial and federal leaders, but to no avail. Clark is satisfied with the current market and worries that if taxes on foreign real estate investors are implemented, “housing prices will drop.” “That’s good for first-time home buyers but not for anybody who is depending on the equity in their home to maybe get a loan or use that to finance some other projects,” she said Tuesday. 18,000 people have already signed an online petition to restrict foreign ownership in Vancouver. “It’s time to stand up and protect our community—Vancouver is not for sale,” the petition reads. “The housing needs of Greater Vancouver residents are more important than the profit margins of foreign speculators.” In Australia, the government recently proposed a policy that would fine or jail foreign investors over illegal home sales. The crackdown calls for fines of CAD$121,000 and up to three years jail for individuals found breaking the rules. Companies will face higher fines of CAD$605,000. Third parties, such as real estate agents, who assist foreigners in breaching the laws could be fined up to CAD$40,400 for individuals and CAD$202,000 for companies. But in Canada, no such law exists. The Vancouverites for Affordable Housing organization is now planning an Affordable Housing Rally to take place on Sunday, May 24 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Statistics about Vancouver housing: Average price of a detached bungalow rose 10.6 per cent between 2014 and 2015 to $1,174,509 Average price of a standard two-storey home rose 10.3 per cent between 2014 and 2015 to $1,267,287 Average price of a condominium rose 4.9 per cent between 2014 and 2015 to $506,624 Owning a home costs on average 48 per cent of a household’s income Vancouver’s housing market is the second least affordable in the world, behind Hong Kong The average home will cost $2,100,000 by 2030, according to a recent study by Vancity. This is starting to make me displeased with Christy. I thought surely she would be for taxing foreign investors. Guess she doesn't care about BC residents as these taxes would help out greatly. http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/05/christy-clark-says-no-taxing-foreign-real-estate-investors/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thejazz97 Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalky Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Christy knows she can do whatever she wants, and will scratch the back of developers before us lowly citizens. There is a long time until the next election, and there is a Federal election this year. The political landscape will change massively before the Liberal (in name only) Party of BC has to fight another campaign. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apple Juice Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 She worries housing prices will drop? Yes, living in Vancouver is a luxury given the location and the weather, but it does not certainly warrant the ridiculous prices new homeowners have to pay just to live in an apartment. People want to live in Vancouver, but by continuing the high prices of housing, it'll only push people towards the outer regions of Vancouver like the Tri-Cities, Surrey, White Rock, etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhippy Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 B.C. Premier Christy Clark is ruling out a tax increase for foreigners buying homes in Metro Vancouver, as an online petition calling for a restriction on foreign investment gathers nearly 18,000 signatures. Clark said the government is trying to tackle the growing challenge of home ownership in Metro Vancouver, but is ruling out applying an additional tax on foreign buyers. "That is good for first-time owners, but not for anyone who is counting on the equity in their homes to maybe get a loan or use the money to finance some other projects," Clark said. The average two-storey detached home is now selling for more than $1.27 million in Vancouver. A change.org petition called "Restrict Foreign Investment in Greater Vancouver's Residential Real Estate Market" has nearly 18,000 signatures. But any sudden change could have unintended consequences for those who already have invested in a home, the premier said. "By moving foreign owners out of the market housing prices will drop," she said. The government has in the past offered tax incentives to first-time home buyers, and is working on new benefits, but there is no concrete plan in place, Clark said. "We are open to some new ideas." =================== What an asbolutely STUPID creature THAT'S THE PURPOSE!!! Hell in PEI you cannot even buy property if you're not a resident, many provinces in Canada have laws similar to this and many more countries laws just like it. Why the hell is lowering prices a bad thing? Who wins? 1. First time home buyers. 2. Anyone looking for affordable housing Who loses? 1. Foreign investors 2. Developers. 3. People looking to downsize their home. All people who do not need to worry about affordable housing If I recall the number was around 30% of all homes/housing/condos in and around vancouver sit empty. But we better not make it more affordable for people to live in vancouver by restricting the sale to foreign investors because prices might drop and become more affordable. A quick heads up, if your entire economic balance is predicated on high costs of development and high prices of housing, you've failed as a leader Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vancouvercanucks2010 Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 This is starting to make me displeased with Christy. I thought surely she would be for taxing foreign investors. Guess she doesn't care about BC residents. These taxes would help out greatly. http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/05/christy-clark-says-no-taxing-foreign-real-estate-investors/ When the housing prices were in their all time in HK, tung kein was announced a plan to build 85,000 affordable apartments ever year. This policy was not the only reason why the housing price was reduced in half in less than a year, but it surely contribute to the cause. When it comes to issue like this we have to be cautious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armada Posted May 13, 2015 Author Share Posted May 13, 2015 "By moving foreign owners out of the market housing prices will drop," she said. The government has in the past offered tax incentives to first-time home buyers, and is working on new benefits, but there is no concrete plan in place, Clark said. "We are open to some new ideas." =================== What an asbolutely STUPID creature THAT'S THE PURPOSE!!! Hell in PEI you cannot even buy property if you're not a resident, many provinces in Canada have laws similar to this and many more countries laws just like it. Why the hell is lowering prices a bad thing? Who wins? 1. First time home buyers. 2. Anyone looking for affordable housing Who loses? 1. Foreign investors 2. Developers. 3. People looking to downsize their home. All people who do not need to worry about affordable housing If I recall the number was around 30% of all homes/housing/condos in and around vancouver sit empty. But we better not make it more affordable for people to live in vancouver by restricting the sale to foreign investors because prices might drop and become more affordable. A quick heads up, if your entire economic balance is predicated on high costs of development and high prices of housing, you've failed as a leader Amen, couldn't have said it any better. Can't believe she made that statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inane Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 This is starting to make me displeased with Christy. I thought surely she would be for taxing foreign investors. Guess she doesn't care about BC residents as these taxes would help out greatly. http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/05/christy-clark-says-no-taxing-foreign-real-estate-investors/ Starting to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conscience Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 bitch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhippy Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Amen, couldn't have said it any better. Can't believe she made that statement. I guess at days end. When you live in Point Grey...you rely on those high prices to protect your investment. When I was a kid a home was somewhere you raised a family...not equity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-DLC- Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 I guess I missed the memo where Shifty changed her slogan from "Families First" to "Foreign Corporations First". Or, "My Family First". Hate her. And as a lifelong resident here, I have never had it so bad...so you can preach all the numbers and figures you want but we are losing our middle class, to the detriment of the families who were here first...before greedy overseas corporations and if you build it they will come developers moved in. The prices in Richmond??...one house increased in value $900,000 since 2011. It's a way to dump (dirty) money here and the houses sit vacant, with no contributions being made to the local economy through everyday living after the property is purchased. The recent exposure of corrupt Chinese who are tied in to our Government is sickening. They all are. And they're fighting for refugee status? How much lower can we go here? We are being used and sold out. Richmond was once called "Island City by Nature". It's now "Bye Nature, I'm A City" and deteriorating into something concrete and common. Never signed on for this and money isn't everything to everyone. You can't ever buy back what we had here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heretic Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Christy Clark is the scum of the earth. A spineless creature who should have never been allowed to serve in public office. The Liberals have singlehandedly ruined this province for the people who are born here. They have allowed foreign investors with little to no interest in any facet of the local society to run roughshod over the area, buying up mass swathes of land. To hell with the Liberals and may Clark's soul burn in the hell that spawned it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhippy Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Christy Clark is the scum of the earth. A spineless creature who should have never been allowed to serve in public office. The Liberals have singlehandedly ruined this province for the people who are born here. They have allowed foreign investors with little to no interest in any facet of the local society to run roughshod over the area, buying up mass swathes of land. To hell with the Liberals and may Clark's soul burn in the hell that spawned it. But but but... What about the NDP of the 90's? Don't worry people will be here to tell you how THEY did that and how it was never the fault of the socreds before them and how the Liberals rode NDP policy well into the late 2000's before tinkering Seriously, Vancouver might be bad, but the Okanagan is now just as bad without a fraction of the opportunity, lifestyle or culture. Skewed numbers with no basis of fact written from only 1 side of things do not tell the whole story. The vancouver housing crisis can be summed up like thus 1. The homeless 2. The people who can afford a home. There is no real in between right now. If you're renting you're barely hanging on. And that is a damned fact Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 But but but... What about the NDP of the 90's? Don't worry people will be here to tell you how THEY did that and how it was never the fault of the socreds before them and how the Liberals rode NDP policy well into the late 2000's before tinkering Seriously, Vancouver might be bad, but the Okanagan is now just as bad without a fraction of the opportunity, lifestyle or culture. Skewed numbers with no basis of fact written from only 1 side of things do not tell the whole story. The vancouver housing crisis can be summed up like thus 1. The homeless 2. The people who can afford a home. There is no real in between right now. If you're renting you're barely hanging on. And that is a damned fact The outcome will be ugly. Fact is half of the foreign investors are buying homes and leaving them empty or dropping their kids into them with an blank cheque book. If we thought the riots based on hockey were bad, just imagine the impoverished citizenry tearing the place apart. People who are backed in to a corner because they have no other choice only have one avenue. Straight into, or right through what is in their way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugor Hill Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 They need to be taxed. Period. They are taking advantage of relatively low real estate prices and stable social and political environments, and making lives of residents economically challenging. Same thing is happening in Toronto. IMO we need to discourage, not outright refuse, but discourage foreign investments into our real estates market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhillipBlunt Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 They need to be taxed. Period. They are taking advantage of relatively low real estate prices and making lives of residents economically challenging. Same thing is happening in Toronto. IMO we need to discourage, not outright refuse, but discourage foreign investments into our real estates market. And the provincial government is lining their already fat pockets with the money. Until the people, either peacefully or otherwise, remove these parasites from public office, nothing will change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warhippy Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 The outcome will be ugly. Fact is half of the foreign investors are buying homes and leaving them empty or dropping their ESL kids into them with an blank cheque book. If we thought the riots based on hockey were bad, just imagine the impoverished citizenry tearing the place apart. People who are backed in to a corner because they have no other choice only have one avenue. Straight into, or right through what is in their way. Putting emotion aside on my part. I can understand where Clark is coming from. Restricting ownership puts her in a terrible light for foreign investors. It also alienates her from a very large voting bloc on the coast, Victoria and the Okanagan that would stand to lose a alrge portion of their investment/equity in a resulting price decline. Her entire economic platform is a sham right now as she's done so very little to diversify the economic portfolio of BC. LNG, Tourism...that's really it. Resource extraction and housing prices. There are no mills or manufacturing left in BC. Take away the absolutely ridiculous price of homes in vancouver and the Kelowna/Victoria area and alienate the investors from China and boom. You're political career is over. That being said, as a citizen of BC. Things have never been harder and they're just getting tougher. Screw her, her investor friends and the farking real estate agents of this province who shaft people with speculative pricing and that market homes overseas 6 months or more before they are even shown or marketed in Canada Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drummer4now Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 They need to be taxed. Period. They are taking advantage of relatively low real estate prices and stable social and political environments, and making lives of residents economically challenging. Same thing is happening in Toronto. IMO we need to discourage, not outright refuse, but discourage foreign investments into our real estates market. This... At least make it more difficult via high taxes,etc.. because out refusing would be borderline discrimination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
desiboynux4lifee******* Posted May 13, 2015 Share Posted May 13, 2015 Hey Cristy, Surrey has a shooting every week, what have you done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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