Foreign Investment Not The Problem- National Post
Foreign Investment in Vancouver is not an issue. That was the summary from an article in the National Post. So I’m sitting here at Blenz Coffee on Abbott and Keefer researching for my next blog post I came across this article written by the National Post titled “Don’t blame Chinese Billionaires for Soaring Vancouver Housing Prices.” While I totally will agree with the title of the headline that they are not the ones to point the finger at, they are however having a major impact on the housing prices. As I’ve mentioned before it’s the governments lack of restrictions and careless actions to not even track foreign buyers that are to blame for out of control home prices.
However, the article written by Andrew Cowne of the National Post explains that foreigners are having little impact on housing prices and instead the problem is high demand and lack of supply. Well how did we get a “high demand and lack of supply”? A rush of foreigners taking advantage of a favourable exchange rate, prices start to go up, more canadians start to panic thinking they better get in on the housing market before prices continue to climb which only fuels more demand. Many Canadians not wanting to sell because if they do where do they go? They will be competing in multiple offers anywhere they go which is a risk not many want to take.
Anyways Andrew goes on to say “There is in fact very little evidence to support the notion that offshore money is responsible for inflating Vancouver real estate prices — as opposed to three per cent mortgage rates, a relatively strong local economy, and so on. The vacancy rate for most types of housing in the city is roughly two per cent, rising to 7.5 per cent for condos, but only a fraction of those are owned by non-residents. Maybe the fabled Chinese billionaires are driving up prices for a few super-homes at the very top end, but it’s a stretch to blame them for the state of the market generally.”
Really? Only super-homes? I focus on Downtown condos and I can tell you foreign investors are driving prices up for any and all condos. I have close connections and have done business with many Realtors in Richmond, South Delta, and South Surrey. It’s the same situation in those areas. Every Realtor will tell you whose buying the property. A conversation with neighbours will confirm that many houses on the block are being left vacant.
So when the article says there is “very little evidence” to support to role of offshore money is completely ridiculous. There’s no evidence because Christy Clark and the rest of the gang refuse to identify and track foreign buyers. Perhaps because they know what the numbers will truly show. Lets use common sense here, we don’t need numbers. But if you do, here check this article out.
