Furious Chinese Envoy.
China never hesitates to tell everyone else to butt out of their affairs. But it's okay for him to say how the Vancouver real estate market should work.
Maybe he wants to hide money too.
15% tax on foreign home buyers
- Thread starter Ray
- Start date
China never hesitates to tell everyone else to butt out of their affairs. But it's okay for him to say how the Vancouver real estate market should work.
Maybe he wants to hide money too.
L
Larry Storch
ound:
L
Larry Storch
"The justificiation for Liu's fury was just as hilarious: the envoy said she has expressed qualms to some provincial ministers after receiving calls from distressed Chinese students locked in contracts to buy homes but unable to drum up the extra cash to pay the tax."
There's an old saying attributed to a British Prime Minister - there are 3 kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. The only statistic I've seen that reflects the state of the current housing market is the number of sales. Denlinger states the market has imploded and then shows the statistics for the average house listing price for each month. So what! All that indicates is that the price of houses that are listed on average has gone down - so the more expensive properties have been either pulled off the market or sold. I get a weekly report for a geographical area on the North Shore from my realtor. It shows properties for sale, those that have sold, those listings that expired without being sold, and those that were pulled off the market. Guess what, if I used the average price of the listed houses from that report the conclusion is that the average price of a house has increased by 25% in the last month. This is because many of the least expensive houses have been delisted. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that the market hasn't slowed and I certainly can't predict the future but be careful of these "statistics" that everyone with an internet connection and a blog are using to support their opinion and wishful thinking.
totally agree, inappropriate to comment on a domestic government issue unless it contravenes some trade regulation or understanding
especially if the comments are supporting elite foreign investors, might be different if it was long term corporate investments into infrastructure or industry
by the way, consul general is a she
The market hasn't 'imploded'.
Most buyers are holding off purchases while waiting to see if the prices are going to come down any based on this tax.
Some sellers, who don't think they're going to get top dollar for their properties, are pulling out of the market. There seems to be a wait and see approach being taken.
Prices, in the mean time, are not going down, but rather, going up due to the lack of supply.
And there are tons of potential buyers who are renting right now who would love to see a dip in prices so they can jump into the home ownership game. The demand is really high, so even if someone didn't want to sell, there's no shortage of renters willing to move into anything that's available.
Most buyers are holding off purchases while waiting to see if the prices are going to come down any based on this tax.
Some sellers, who don't think they're going to get top dollar for their properties, are pulling out of the market. There seems to be a wait and see approach being taken.
Prices, in the mean time, are not going down, but rather, going up due to the lack of supply.
And there are tons of potential buyers who are renting right now who would love to see a dip in prices so they can jump into the home ownership game. The demand is really high, so even if someone didn't want to sell, there's no shortage of renters willing to move into anything that's available.
Here is the latest salvo:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...nst-b-c-foreign-buyers-property-tax-1.3769751
I think it does not look good for the BC government's side of the argument. They may well end up having to pay back all of the taxes they have collected so far. I can't imagine what that will do to the price of houses/condos in greater Vancouver ;-(
JD
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...nst-b-c-foreign-buyers-property-tax-1.3769751
I think it does not look good for the BC government's side of the argument. They may well end up having to pay back all of the taxes they have collected so far. I can't imagine what that will do to the price of houses/condos in greater Vancouver ;-(
JD
I actually agree with the lawsuit. There is so many ways and the 15% tax is just not one of them. Allowing only new properties for foreign buyers like what Australia did is one of them. At least this way development will metastasized to other areas. Oil prices are going down and we need more people to come in with their investments to get the economy moving. This will translate into more jobs, and better income for the government.
I think George C. had a great idea on how to help alleviate housing for the poor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGMgXSg9TgM
JD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGMgXSg9TgM
JD
