15% tax on foreign home buyers

[Ray]

Does anyone here think it'll make a difference?

I personally don't, as the people who are buying the high end homes aren't going be affected by price. I mean really, if you're buying a house for 5 million, or 10 million, do you care about the tax?

 

[burcs]

The tax on a 5/10 million dollar home is 750k/1.5m respectively. You really don't think that will make a difference? Compared to a similar tax in Sydney (and surrounding cities I believe) which is 'only' 3-4%, this is quite significant. If your return on a market investment is 10% that's already good, now we're docking 15% right off the bat.

My gripe is that they're not doing anything to retroactively fix the flawed immigration policies. IMO many of the 'foreign' folks buying these homes have PR status from immigration.

It's a start though.

 

[oneoldone]

Does anyone here think it'll make a difference?

I personally don't, as the people who are buying the high end homes aren't going be affected by price. I mean really, if you're buying a house for 5 million, or 10 million, do you care about the tax?

At the end of the day year or decade we are forgetting taxes come out of our pocket one way or another. In this case the home owner is getting 15% less than he would have otherwise under "free market conditions". It is ironic that the liberals may be applauded for this after they originally came to power during one election because a white paper written by some NDP intellectual nitwit on how government could tax some of the value out of the homes being inherited by the baby boomers ended up with the media. You should have heard the liberal screams. They ain't screaming now their laughing all the way to the bank. The Austrailians have done this right they only allow outside buyers to purchase new. Good luck on getting this tax squelched but at least lets not cheer too loudly

 

[johnsmit]

Has no one realized this is racism,something similar to the head taxes they charged east Indian imagrents back 100 yrs ago ..In this case if you have money and want to buy property you get charged extra only because you are a none white because that is who it will be effecting most .
Ad side from either driving the prices up even more and making it even more unaffordable for others ..or just taking more money out of the general economy. .This is just another tax grab for the government to pilfer from
And they think they can use the people's zenaphobice attitude to get away with it because we'll it not coming from my pocket.

I am ashamed of this government and people in general that that go for using predgadice and racism I'm any way against a definable group of people , in this case Asian property buyers.

Know matter what the underlying reasoning might be . It I'd still based on wrong reasoning and is economical frawe'd . It is a great way to stop an economic boom in Vancouver. Want to see all the construction grind to a halt and have half stated buildings lay abandoned like in the early 80's when there big stratagem was to charge 23%interest .

 

[manni]

Does anyone here think it'll make a difference?

I personally don't, as the people who are buying the high end homes aren't going be affected by price. I mean really, if you're buying a house for 5 million, or 10 million, do you care about the tax?

won't make a dent.
that's lunch money to most of the billionaires in China.

there really isn't any solution as long as we're in a capitalist society.
I wonder if there's such a thing as 'responsible capitalism'?

 

[apl16]

much noise about nothing. political propaganda. taxes against the wealthy usually have so many loopholes that it ends up doing nothing.

 

[Larry Storch]

Has no one realized this is racism. . .(snip)

It's about non residential buyers.
Nothing about race.
If 'Billy Bob' from the deep deep south of 'Murica wants a summer home in Vancouver; he's paying the tax too.

 

[JimDandy]

Has no one realized this is racism ...

Not racism. This law applies to all people of all races. If you are not Canadian, you pay the extra tax. End of story. This will affect all those white Americans from New York buying holiday homes as much as Chinese from Shanghai buying investment condos.

If you want an example of racism, investigate how easy it is for a non-Chinese (by race) person to become an naturalized Chinese citizen. Almost impossible! If Canada made it as difficult for non-caucasions to become a Canadian citizen, there would be almost no Chinese citizens living in Canada.

JD

 

[JimDandy]

Here is a good story on this topic:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bc-foreign-homebuyer-tax-housing-market-toronto-1.3696511

JD

 

[se7landrover97]

I think Vancouver will be a global city in a few more years which will be comparable to other great cities like NYC, SF, Tokyo, HK, Paris, etc. One downside of this is property prices is surely going to go up. As of now, ours are the lowest compare to the Cities I mentioned. If you try to make some research, cost of property here is even cheaper then in Manila, Philippines which incidentally is still a third world country, by the way. If we don't want progress and development, go ahead and clamor the government to do something about it. Put heavy taxes, halt immigration, restrict foreign buyers whatever. Or even better, restrict foreign students from UBC, Kwantlen, SFU. Surely this will discourage people from coming to Vancouver. Just do whatever is necessary to prevent new people from coming in. Lets just let this beautiful city die because without all these development that is what it's going to happen. But remember, why our health care system is sustainable, why public education in primary and secondary are free, why we have child benefits every month, why we have tax refunds and all that? Because this country has money even if we are having a recession or prices of oil are down. People all over the world envy us. The choice is yours. I pick progress.

 

[monk001]

Has no one realized this is racism,something similar to the head taxes they charged east Indian imagrents back 100 yrs ago ..In this case if you have money and want to buy property you get charged extra only because you are a none white because that is who it will be effecting most .
Ad side from either driving the prices up even more and making it even more unaffordable for others ..or just taking more money out of the general economy. .This is just another tax grab for the government to pilfer from
And they think they can use the people's zenaphobice attitude to get away with it because we'll it not coming from my pocket.

I am ashamed of this government and people in general that that go for using predgadice and racism I'm any way against a definable group of people , in this case Asian property buyers.

Know matter what the underlying reasoning might be . It I'd still based on wrong reasoning and is economical frawe'd . It is a great way to stop an economic boom in Vancouver. Want to see all the construction grind to a halt and have half stated buildings lay abandoned like in the early 80's when there big stratagem was to charge 23%interest .

So let me understand this and correct me if I've misinterpreted what you've written.

You are more concerned about how we are perceived as a society ( racist, xenophobic ) than how young families and millennials are struggling on a daily basis to survive in this city. Is that your main concern?
You're worried that buildings will lay abandoned? Dude, families have moved or have thought about moving....


http://www.vancourier.com/opinion/is-it-time-to-leave-vancouver-1.1953813


http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/can-families-still-afford-vancouver/


http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/06/...eave-metro-vancouver-over-housing-costs-poll/


http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/ta...ep-living-there&pubdate=2016-01-07&t=squamish


If this trend continues Vancouver will be a ghost town. The only occupants older, rich folks. But hey that's fine as long we aren't perceived as racist.

 

[Cock Throppled]

Anyone who cries racism about our housing affordability is trying to deflect the issue.

Restricting foreign ownership should have been in place a long time ago.

This new tax will do noting because there are too many loopholes and it doesn't even apply outside the Lower Mainland.

Watch prices start to spike around the province as foreign buyers bypass the 15% tax by buying in Victoria, the Sunshine Coast and the Okanagan.

 

[burcs]

Anyone who's crying over johnsmit's post clearly hasn't been around long enough to just ignore his incoherent rants.

Billionaires in China aren't spending their time on little (relative to them) investments in residential property. To the foreigners who see this as a form of investment income it will matter. Having said that they are mostly PR already. To that extent it won't make much of an impact.

 

[Ray]

As I had stated earlier, I don't believe it will have an impact on affordability.
The big money coming in from overseas, who were buying houses that were out of reach for most of us anyways, will continue to do so. Especially the money that is being laundered out of China. There's people that absolutely need to get their money out of the reach of whatever government they're being ruled by. And our real estate, even at the high end, is still more reasonable than some other countries.
What it will do is provide a massive boost to the Provincial Government in revenues from the Property Transfer Tax.

There's nothing racist about this, no one community is being targeted. All non-Canadian citizens are affected.

The ones it will hurt are the people relocating to Vancouver for business, in the specialized trades, etc, as it will deter them from purchasing and settling down here. Rents are going to skyrocket even further as a result of this.

 

[johnsmit]

Well it funny that only now they are putting this tax in after 20 yes of Asians buying in Vancouver and what about all the American and other nationalities that have been buying up realastate and companies for yrs.They would not dare put exter tax on that .
I am sorry but this tax is just targeting an identifiable group.

I realize many don't see it and of course right now it only is in Vancouver not the 10 other municipal areas , which all so have none resident buiers.

The climate of rasisum that we have and is why know one sees anything wrong with it .But it is just anothe tax grab my the BC government which they probably will try to expand to other areas if it goes well .
It is not a solution to the housing situation.

 

[Ray]

Well it funny that only now they are putting this tax in after 20 yes of Asians buying in Vancouver and what about all the American and other nationalities that have been buying up realastate and companies for yrs

So which argument are you trying to make, Maxx? Is it Asians buying up properties or is it American and other nationalities? You're acknowledging it's both, but then you somehow find racism in this.

The government is putting this tax in now because of the huge uproar from the people that live here, who either will never be able to buy here, or our kids won't be able to buy here. The government must be seen as doing something, even if it's just window dressing. Elections need to be won.

Supply and demand is what makes the real estate in the Lower Mainland very valuable. More people want to move and live here than anywhere else in the country. It's just the sheer volume of people in the last few years, that's caused this spike. Both from within the country and from outside.

There is a trickle down effect from the really big bucks buying up the high dollar houses in the West End. Those people selling and cashing in still have to live somewhere. So they're moving to the suburbs, and in some cases, buying multiple houses, one for living, one for rental income. People in the suburbs are moving out to the Fraser Valley. I've now got coworkers commuting from Chilliwack to Vancouver for work, whereas 15 years ago, we thought it was outrageous to have people commuting from Langley or Abbotsford to Vancouver.

Think of the demographic changes. The schools in the West Side are being emptied, as people can no longer raise a family there. Even in East Vancouver. An increase in rental properties means people no longer have a sense of community, as everyone is transient, some just a little longer than others. Not sure what this will mean for the community centers. Community ball clubs, hockey clubs, etc.

 

[FreeG]

Like others have said:
- it won't make much difference to the 1%. When I hear of houses going for $200k OVER asking price, another 100-200k for additional tax probably isn't a huge deterrent.
- people will find ways around it. There was a good article on mega-mansions in LA and high-priced apartments in NYC. In many instances, it was nearly impossible to determine who actually lived there (if anyone). The places were often bought by corporations (.... LLC) that were often found to be shells. Maybe if the tax also applies to LLC's based outside of Canada, then maybe that will help but someone will find another way. Here's another potential: rich wealthy foreigner contracts a nice, pleasant Canadian person to purchase a home. The Canadian does the deed, pockets some money, then gifts the house, or places it in a trust or some other means of transferring w/o paying tax.

- I think 15% is too low. Make it 30% minimum and tack on another penalty if the homeowners can't prove they live there for the majority of the year (again, living in the home can probably be circumvented but the threat of action MAY deter some).

At the end of the day, last stat I saw was 8 or 16% of new home purchases were by foreign buyers. If this stat is correct, that's not the biggest problem, or the buyers have already gotten around identifying themselves as foreign buyers. I agree with previous post that its a beautiful city that people want to live in, there's no room for more houses, so prices will go up. Who affords so many $1-2M++ homes, if its not "rich foreigners", is certainly an interesting question.

 

[mercyshooter]

So which argument are you trying to make, Maxx? Is it Asians buying up properties or is it American and other nationalities? You're acknowledging it's both, but then you somehow find racism in this.

The government is putting this tax in now because of the huge uproar from the people that live here, who either will never be able to buy here, or our kids won't be able to buy here. The government must be seen as doing something, even if it's just window dressing. Elections need to be won.

Supply and demand is what makes the real estate in the Lower Mainland very valuable. More people want to move and live here than anywhere else in the country. It's just the sheer volume of people in the last few years, that's caused this spike. Both from within the country and from outside.

There is a trickle down effect from the really big bucks buying up the high dollar houses in the West End. Those people selling and cashing in still have to live somewhere. So they're moving to the suburbs, and in some cases, buying multiple houses, one for living, one for rental income. People in the suburbs are moving out to the Fraser Valley. I've now got coworkers commuting from Chilliwack to Vancouver for work, whereas 15 years ago, we thought it was outrageous to have people commuting from Langley or Abbotsford to Vancouver.

Think of the demographic changes. The schools in the West Side are being emptied, as people can no longer raise a family there. Even in East Vancouver. An increase in rental properties means people no longer have a sense of community, as everyone is transient, some just a little longer than others. Not sure what this will mean for the community centers. Community ball clubs, hockey clubs, etc.

what he meant is why this tax won't be put on 20 years ago right at when non-asian non-canadians/non-PRs were doing this? My answer to him is: it's all politics!

 

[azazel501]

The logical solution would be to bar foreign purchase of real estate but either because we live in a "tolerant" or politically correct society no one is willing to address the real issue for fear of being labeled racist. It's quite obvious that the rich chinese have discovered that buying real estate is profitable and the non-millionaire citizens are simply feeling the effects. Whether it's legitimate money they are using or laundered money the Canadian govt doesn't really know or maybe doesn't care and are in bed with them. I wonder what the chinese govt would do if thousands of Canadian millionaires went to China and started flipping houses there?

 

[LM987]

I say, make the property transfer tax high, on ALL residential real estate, BUT, give a discount to all people residing in the property they own or can prove they rent & report the rental income.

This has been a cash grab for the Gov't since it's inception.
When it came in, this was supposed to be the tax on luxury homes. ie the first $200,000 is 1%, then anything above that is at 2%.
Well back when it came into being, a $200,000 house was expensive, so above that was luxury.
They have not indexed these limits, but rather just kept taking more money on an average house.

This 15% also doesn't affect those "student" homes that are being purchased. Son or Daughter go to school here, so they are residents, buy the home in their name, and guess what, no 15% foreign tax.