It’s that time of the week again, Friday free-for-all time!
This is our regular end of the week news round up and open topic discussion thread for the weekend.
Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:
–Canadians will need 20% more income
–BOC rate cut?
–Road pricing
–Ill equipped to deal with rising costs
–Requalification?
–
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes here and have an excellent weekend!
Ottawa urged to reject retirement home bid by Chinese group Anbang
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-urged-to-reject-retirement-home-bid-by-chinese-group-anbang/article33085407
“And British Columbia’s most prominent NDP MP said Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains must reject the transaction outright”
But but but…. I keep being told on this forum that the “politically correct” left is afraid of offending the Chinese.
8K party on Thursday or Friday.
Pretty sure about that.
What happened to the 15% tax and the subsequent crash?? Approaching 5 months now…Better hope the spring market doesn’t ignite on fire again with the low inventory.
Continue to ignore the real cause of high prices at your peril. That’s why no rush to list as most people know whats up. In the meantime, prepare to be priced out of the rental market over the coming year.
Inventory is cumulative over time. As long as sales are depressed, inventory will rise.
Recent Vancouver Detached sales are 60% below 2015, and Active Listings are up 40%.
This is not a new normal. This lull in sales will end soon.
You know it to. Then what?
It will always cost less to rent in Vancouver than to buy. That even comes more apparent when you pass the threshold of what an average Vancouverite makes.
https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/apa/5897447328.html
I was very lazy in my search. What would this condo cost 750k?
$1800 for lawn chair camping for 6 days in rainy weather. Bring your own food & sleeping bag. Sounds like you would actually have to be there for 24 hours / day for 6 days? Kinda of lousy pay.
“A ‘serious hangover’ is about to hit the bond market”, Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/serious-hangover-hit-the-bond-market-2016-11
“A combination of government policies, central bank tightening, and increasing global growth will put a stop to the so-called “bond party” of the past 30 years and cause a “serious hangover.””
Why?
Demographics in the west and a slowing China means low growth ahead.
Sounds like fiction.
“Uncertainty over Canada’s economic outlook sets bar high for rate change: Poloz”, Globe & Mail
“Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz suggested that continued uncertainties surrounding Canada’s economic outlook have set the bar high for an interest rate change, as the central bank approaches its deliberations for next week’s rate decision.”
“Rental stigma to fade as housing prices climb, researcher says”, Toronto Star
“Paul Smetanin, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis, says cities such as Sydney and Vienna prove “you don’t have to own your own home in order to have a great home.””
Part 2 of 2 Vanc Sun: Chinese company Anbang aims to buy Retirement Concepts seniors housing However, Anbang’s foray into B.C.’s health-care industry is raising eyebrows. B.C. NDP leader John Horgan said he only learned on Monday from news reports about Anbang’s application and wants to make sure the giant Chinese firm isn’t just interested in flipping or sitting on property owned by Retirement Concepts. “It strikes me that when you have a real estate company getting into the business of taking care of our seniors that is cause for pause at the provincial level, and we will make sure that the federal government does a thorough review of the company’s intentions and how it will impact seniors in B.C.,” Horgan said. “We have an aging population and if foreign companies that are not interested in health care are purchasing… Read more »
Good grief, how many more posts are you going to start about this?
Thanks for posting, please ignore SIDA.
This really caught my eye:
” Along with building a business model that supplies subsidized housing for seniors, the Jamals have been strong supporters of the B.C. Liberal Party. Since 2005 they have contributed more than $70,000 to the party, both individually and through several corporations, provincial election financing records show.”
Wait, so Retirement Concepts isn’t really just a RE company at its core?? Cuz, it does sound a lot like a RE company more than a healthcare company. Isn’t there also senior retirement home focused REITS as well?
Part 1 of 2 Vanc Sun: Chinese company Anbang aims to buy Retirement Concepts seniors housing Jeff Lee Sam Cooper Published on: November 28, 2016 | Last Updated: November 28, 2016 7:33 PM PST Over three decades ago a silent investment in a Chilliwack retirement home allowed Abdul, Shamim and their son, Azim Jamal, to start what would become the largest chain of retirement homes in B.C., Retirement Concepts. Along the way, they became influential in the health-care industry, winning many lucrative contracts with the provincial government to provide subsidized care for seniors. By last year, they had won annual Health Ministry contracts worth more than $86 million. And over the decades, the Jamals, wealthy members of B.C.’s tightly knit Ismaili community, also judiciously invested in dozens of other properties across Canada and the U.S., including grocery stores, hotels, apartment… Read more »
From Bloomberg, Nov 28, 2016, 1:00:00 PM
Australian actress Cate Blanchett wanted to sell her home on Sydney’s waterfront. The buyer who wanted it was from China. The trouble started right there.
To read the entire article, go to http://bloom.bg/2fJQSyu
Sent from the Bloomberp
Interesting. Might it be true?
“Getting the money out of China proved impossible. The A$20 million ($14.9 million) price tag was far in excess of the $50,000 limit on what Chinese are allowed to convert each year due to capital controls. The would-be buyer couldn’t settle, and the deal fell apart”
Good! It was illegal to start with. But the Aussie government did not care about that: the chinese had to stop it at their end!
Whither than white anglos, making money while trying to look considerate and law-abiding.
However, they want to look to be trying:
“But those who succeed in getting their money out of China are now running into heightened restrictions in Australia. Last year, the government forced a company owned by China’s Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. to sell an A$39 million Sydney mansion, the highest-profile casualty of a crackdown on illegal home-buying by foreigners.
This year, Australia’s four biggest lenders and Citigroup Inc. said they’ll no longer approve mortgage applications in Australia that rely on foreign income denominated in Chinese yuan and four other Asian currencies. Westpac Banking Corp. said it wanted to support Australians and permanent residents’ home-buying instead.”
In Canada, no government level or agency even discusses such curbs. Would be racist, heavens forbid!
China Takes a Chain Saw to a Center of Tibetan Buddhism
shameful
They better not have a silent protest or they’ll get mowed down by chinese gunfire.
So when are you going to join the IJA, cuz that’s the mostly likely chance you will get to having some firefights with the PLA. Or are you too chicken or wimpy for it? But that’s ok too, you can still do your part as a part of the comfort company for IJA.
Maybe you should actually read the story or better yet, take a look at the photos, and maybe just for kicks, actually read the other unreported side. Looks to me like a shantytown being demolished and likely a replacement village with actual modern plumbing and necessities that will be build in its place.
But whatever, let’s not let any potential facts or biased reporting get in the way of China bashing. After all, we have to preserve poverty in Tibet so you Westerners can get that authentic spiritual experience, and bash China some more for forcing the monks to live in poverty.
“OECD Says Trump’s Policies Could Lift Global Growth”, Wall Street Journal
http://www.wsj.com/articles/oecd-says-trumps-policies-could-lift-global-growth-1480327202
“U.S. and global economic growth would be boosted by increases in spending and tax cuts promised by President-elect Donald Trump, but those gains would be lost if he pressed ahead with threatened tariff increases that triggered retaliation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Monday.”
“Housing prices are hurting Canada’s middle class, OECD warns”, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/oecd-gdp-outlook-canada-1.3870648
“Canada’s economy is on the upswing, but Canadian households remain vulnerable because of debt and high housing prices, according to the latest report on the economy by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.”
“OSFI superintendent Rudin warns lenders against ‘complacency'”, CBC News
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ofsi-jeremy-rudin-warning-1.3871127
“Canada’s banking regulator warned lenders Monday to remain strict in the way they underwrite mortgages as a way of preventing crises for financial institutions if low interest rates rise and property values drop.”
Maybe this headline is more to the point:
“Canada’s banking watchdog warns lenders face big losses if housing markets turn”, Calgary Herald
http://www.calgaryherald.com/canada+banking+watchdog+warns+lenders+face+losses+housing+markets+turn/12446825/story.html
“If”?
B.C.’s high rental market leaves some seniors on the street or in fear of homelessness
And there are no “silent protests” on the streets or outraged neighbors to get upset about it…
No, of course not, we’re Canadians, we only care about foreign nationals, refugees, immigrants and occasionally first nations. #CanadaIsBroken
Get real. The reason this crisis exists in the first place is that most Canadian homeowners only care about themselves.
Amply demonstrated by the fact that the whiners are doing nothing but insisting somebody else must do something. Start a protest yourselves if it means that much to you?
That involves actual work and efforts. Seems like the keyboard warriors here are too damn lazy to even attend those housing protests a few months back, despite them professing how much they care about Vancouver, housing, and how the Chinese horde is destroying Vancouver. Seems like when they actually have to put some efforts in, they simply can’t. No wonder they are on here complaining non-stop, instead of actually getting out there and work like most of the new homeowners in the last 15 years.
Any way you slice it, this sucks, BUT!!! WTF is someone who just moved into the province getting subsidized housing? This is simply more of the loony lefty thinking that got us here in the first place. At least we don’t allow our Syrian friends to face homelessness. #CanadaIsBroken Full stop
Chinese property investors may be forced to sell as bank finance dries up.
Earlier this year, the big four banks cut off lending to offshore investors in a bid to reduce the amount of risk they took on.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-28/chinese-property-investors-worried-after-big-banks-change-rules/8062530
Say it isn’t so, chinese borrow money in China to buy RE in Vancouver!
Stories like these are running concurrently in the OZ press:
http://www.watoday.com.au/business/the-economy/foreigners-pile-back-into-australian-property-reigniting-bubble-fears-20161124-gsx97i.html
Just goes to show how very little anyone knows about who buys what and where the money comes from.
We all know where the source of the money is coming. More than half of the RE agents does not speak english.
Another reason why the real estate cartel is a criminal syndicate and pathetic joke.
English language testing should be MANDATORY for anyone getting a real estate license.
Thousands of mainland creeps would have been prevented from ever doing business here.
What? No French requirements? Why so damn racists against Francophones? Is French not an official language of Canada anymore?
The story is not about Chinese borrowing in China to buy overseas. It’s about Chinese borrowing with Oz banks to buy in Oz. The big 4 banks are Australia’s big 4….so Chinese being impacted are ones that put down deposits in Australia but now can’t get mortgages with one of the big 4 Oz banks.
Just for everybody’s info, our Canadian banks still do brisk business with chinese expats (including non-permanent residents). Many of the mortgages extended to them run in the millions.
A few months ago, there was talk of changing the rules. Some banks took unilateral action and promised to change their credit assessment criteria. But nothing has happened, as far as I know.
Local credit is being used by chinese students and housewives to push up prices to stellar levels, and we just look the other way. It is very profitable for banks (so far).
Tragic, Canadian banks supporting plague to destroy the country and society in the name of mutual greed.
Sell your bank shares?
It seems that every Canadian institution from governments to banks to universities are selling us out to these vermin.
We’re going to need even more camps.
Yup. In Oz, the banks are panicking because of rampant income falsification by Chinese. In Canada, they don’t care about your income so long as you have 35% DP.
Not sure what the foreigner DP was in Oz, but likely smaller.
The “Earth to Trudeau” headline in the Sun this morning should serve as a reminder for his keepers never to allow their boy to leave home without having his head firmly zipped up.
While his rambling tribute to the butcher Fidel Castro may have drawn a few snickers from his opponents, it is a bloody embarrassment to Canadians.
Between his love of china’s basic dictatorship and his fawning over Castro, it shows we’ve got ourselves a real fucking commie running our country.
He’s going to sell us out.
But monarchy is all fine & danity right? Cuz just because someone won a birth lottery, s/he should get to rule a country right?
Last time I checked, Fidel isn’t droning wedding parties, blowing up hospitals, or invading other countries & supporting terrorists that left millions as refugees. Seems like if you want to be angry about something, you got much bigger fish to fry.
And remeind me why Saudi Arabia and rest of GCC are all buddies buddies with the western democracies that care so much about human rights? Are women allowed to go outside of their house without a male relative escort yet in those countries? Or is that not a basic human right?
“The era of super-low interest rates might be ending. What’s in it for you?”, Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-interest-rates-20161128-htmlstory.html
“Since President-elect Donald Trump’s surprising election victory this month, financial markets have sent a forceful message that the era of super-low interest rates is coming to a close.”
If that’s true, and you’re thinking rates of 4-5% are coming back, how will the governments of the US, all of Europe and the rest of the world pay off their debts?
Stimulate job growth.
Economic growth increases tax revenue.
Tax idle wealth to make up up the diff.
Governments never “pay off their debts” they just let inflation take care of that.
Canadian Tire money?
So that must be why there are still trillions of gov’t bonds in negative interest rate territory? A theoretical impossibility just a decade ago?
What is Anbang Insurance?
http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/03/18/what-is-anbang-insurance-the-short-answer/
Hidden costs of Anbang’s western spending spree
https://www.ft.com/content/cd71085c-f025-11e5-9f20-c3a047354386
Chinese company Anbang buys stake in BC-based retirement home chain
“This foreign takeover is currently under scrutiny by the federal government’s Investment Review Division because it exceeds the $600-million threshold and it will ultimately be up to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains to make a decision.”
I really hope this does not happen. Anyone with a brain can see what the Chinese are trying to do here and that is to take over the Western economic system by buying into businesses. Thier pattern is becoming quite obvious.
there is much more going on here than meets the eye. first, anbang is a quasi state owned enterprise that raises funds primarily through sales of what are dubbed “wealth management products” marketed to retail clients. imho anbang’s clients will be able to access their “investments” from outside of china’s borders thereby completely skirting the $50000 limit
Uhm…isn’t that basically what all ETFs and mutual funds are??
the BC Liberals are totally on board with this deal
private contractors provide the largest share of residential care for B.C. seniors. Retirement Concepts is one of, if not the largest retirement home chain in BC. imho a chinese state owned enterprise has no business playing such a large role in providing healthcare BC.
best of all care will be provided to wealthy clients who pay no tax themselves with the rest of us chumps (who will likely find ourselves without a bed) footing the bill.
“What makes it even more attractive is that it also owns holdings of unused or partly developed land that would allow a major expansion of facilities in the future.”
image on Retirement Concepts’ homepage just changed this morning and now features two smiling senior asian men
Holly shit, it is a racist pamphlet cunningly placed. Where is the “silent protest” and outraged neighbors to protest???
Ivanhoé Cambridge Inc doubles exposure in Chinese market through investment in Chongbang
I really hope this does not happen. Anyone with a brain can see what the Canadians are trying to do here and that is to take over the Eastern economic system by buying into businesses. Thier pattern is becoming quite obvious.
