Canada, debt, economy, mortgage, rates

New regulation lead to 44% drop in CMHC mortgages

If you’re buying with less than 20% down, you’re a ‘high-risk’ borrower and you’re probably using CMHC insurance on your mortgage. New regulations are having a big impact on buyers in this zone with new CMHC mortgages dropping by 44%. Bullwhip29 pointed out this article in BIV:

Through the first half of 2017, CMHC-insured mortgages had dropped to 95,000, down from 118,000 in the first half of 2016.
In October 2016, the federal government began a stress test for approving all high-ratio insured mortgages with terms of five years or more. It required such borrowers to prove they can handle payments at the Bank of Canada’s posted five-year rate, which is about twice as high as the lowest lending rates available.

Read the full article here.

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Abdul Lahazi

Click to flag and open «Comment Reporting» form. You can choose reporting category and send message to website administrator. Admins may or may not choose to remove the comment or block the author. And please don't worry, your report will be anonymous.

‘A bloodbath, basically’: Crab poaching a problem in B.C.’s Lower Mainland: biologist
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/a-bloodbath-basically-crab-poaching-a-problem-in-b-c-s-lower-mainland-biologist-1.4290998

And everyone knows by whose hands these crimes are being perpetrated.

Member

Doomcouver

This is an interesting report on Iceland’s credit bubble popping, and criminal litigation against Iceland bankers. There are some eery similarities to Canadian banks. I don’t think any of Canada’s bankers will be going to prison, though I’m sure some of them have done things to deserve it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDKmEwP-5pg

Guest

Kim

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/8-sentenced-in-new-can-consultants-immigration-fraud-case-affecting-over-1-600-clients-1.4293004

Member

Best place on meth

Misrepresentation, forgery,tax evasion, scams, fraud, unlicenced, false addresses.

Just a regular day at the office in locustland.

Guest

Just me

What are our enforcement agencies doing about this? It is clear the phenomenon is widespread.
Are they so underfunded that they cannot even pursue daytime robbery?
The most disturbing aspect of all this are not the perpetrators and criminals. The problem is the inability of our society to put a stop to this behaviours.
I think it boils down to political will: are our politicians willing to risk some political capital to the right thing? I would vote any (and repeat, any!) party which credibly committed to pursue and punish this behaviour by Chinese mainlanders.

Member

Best place on meth

“It is clear the phenomenon is widespread.”

Nah, it’s just a few bad apples. It’s not like cheating is normal in their culture.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/10132391/Riot-after-Chinese-teachers-try-to-stop-pupils-cheating.html

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Abdul Lahazi

“the country’s elite universities.” Which in reality are a total joke. And these same students come here as international students wanting to study and cheat their way through our educational system.

Guest

Just me

Yet, Canadian universities (and voters at large) welcome these students (many of whom cannot even muster the English language at a passable level) with open arms.
Deans and universities’ bureaucrats appear quite happy to sacrifice academic quality in exchange of cash.
The influence of mainland Chinese money is corrupting many institutions and people.
When I hear the frequent slogan: the world needs more Canada! I cringe and think: please no. We don’t need another hypocritical country that launders illicit money, pollutes more per capita than most other countries in the developed world and yet arrogantly claims the high moral ground. Sadly, Canada circa 2017 really sucks if you are law abiding citizen.

Guest

Yellow Beaver

Wow, that story’s only 4 years old. What, do you work for the CBC?

Member

Best place on meth

It’s a classic.

What are you, 12 years old?

Guest

Just me

I am sure that in the last four years everything changed in mainland China. Now they would all be disgusted of even contemplating to cheat.

Member

Best place on meth

That’s what Oracle is hearing from his sources, the commie chinese have completely reformed and now respect the rule of law.

You couldn’t find a more respectful culture anywhere on earth.

🙂

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Still “just following the money”?

Guest

Shut It Down Already

“What are our enforcement agencies doing about this? ”

Read the headline again. The key word is “sentenced”, if that helps.

Guest

Just me

I knew a flat-earth idiot like SIDA could not resist interjecting with the usual nonsense.
Ifmyou were familiar with case (sadly, I am) you would know that these guys were caught because they had become so reckless that they used the same address for multiple applicants.
The police suspects that there several other such operators that continue to obtain results without being picked up by law enforcement.
Yes, Chinese mainlanders are still finding ways to come here by the thousands on fictitious basis. And we let them. Act surprised now.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

The fact remains they got caught. So don’t try and pretend that there’s no enforcement, dumbass.

Guest

Just me

Ok, you convinced me. We have fully eradicated the problem of false representation by Chinese mainlanders who try to immigrate to Canada while generating income in Chiba.
Problem solved.

Guest

Combat roach

It is total social and cultural downhill in the western world in the past 20 years, since the most corrupted, crooked and unscrupulous group of people got access and started aggressively to populate it, enforcing their rules and ways of living.

Guest

Polozi Scheme

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/cities-are-now/how-one-boston-neighborhood-stopped-gentrification-in-its-tracks

Guest

Polozi Scheme

Hello Friday Fre for All!

Guest

LS in Arbutus

2762 W 10th
Sold for $2,135, 88% of assessed
Assessed $2,439
Bought $1,850 Oct 2016
PPT and Real estate fees, $100k
Property taxes $5k
Interest at 3% on $2 million for 1 year $60k
Total costs $2,015. Made $120k….

I wonder how many people are going to be wanting to sit on $2-$4 million houses when they aren’t appreciating in value anymore?

Member

Doomcouver

I think a lot of inventory will get dumped on the market out of fear at some point. Anyone buying $2 million dollar houses are expecting them to go to 10 million or higher in the next decade or so. Adjusting that mental paradigm should create a lot of panic selling.

Guest

YVR

Our drama teacher PM makes international headlines for his new tax policy.

Canada’s Hunt For Taxes – Trudeau’s Destruction of the Canadian Economy

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is doing his best to send Canada into the Dark Age. He is clearly a Marxist and has targeted small business which creates 70% of all employment.

https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/taxes/canadas-hunt-for-taxes-trudeaus-destruction-of-the-canadian-economy/

Member

Doomcouver

All I hear is rich people belly aching that the gravy train is derailing. Sorry fatcats the bell tolls for thee.

Guest

Oracle

Also regarding the new Richmond language bylaw. I read it as it gives free reign for business owners to do so as they please. The populace will cater to the majority in the area.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

It’s not a bylaw.

Member

Doomcouver

Yes there’s no bylaw it’s just a written policy regarding city officials being told to ask businesses to have signs in english. There is no penalty for non-compliance however, so it seems like a useless policy to me. This is a lame attempt to placate people who complained to City Hall about the non-english signs.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

Richmond is a canary in the mine…….the language issue is simply the conquerors piss stains. The city waived the white flag on the sign language issue claiming the will be taken to court if they attempt a fix. to address the colonization of Richmond by Chinese..

Member

patriotz

B.C. NDP’s fundraising bill to ban corporate and union contributions, set $1,200 limit

Guest

Oracle

I don’t know too much about the loopholes for this. Is this limit too high?

Member

Best place on meth

“Individual campaign-donation limits will be set at $1,200, far less than the $5,000 ceiling the Opposition Liberals were proposing in their private member’s bill introduced this week. ”

Does that answer your questions?

No doubt, the Liberals will all vote against this very sensible and long overdue legislation.

Guest

Just me

The Liberals make significant money from the unchecked donation system.
The NDP does not personally profit but also benefits through donations in kind (workers).
I think the main reason we might get serious legislation is the Green Party.

This is another baby step to reduce house prices: the unholy alliance between developers and politicians will become harder, as they cannot legally transfer wealth. However, I believe some BC Liberals (guess who) were quite happy to take also informal donations….like suitcases.
Where there is a will there is a way.

Member

Best place on meth

“In a role reversal Wednesday, the Opposition Liberals introduced a private member’s bill to ban union and corporate donations despite rejecting similar bills by the NDP on six occasions while in government.”

http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/province/ndp-looks-to-rein-in-political-money-with-ban-on-corporate-union-donations-1.22706452

Aren’t the LibCreds just adorable, suddenly pretending to care about this issue?

Guest

Combat roach

Epic FUBAR…

http://m.huffingtonpost.ca/sonny-wong/get-ready-for-a-more-chinese-canada_a_23208208/

Member

Best place on meth

Meh….this is nothing more than an advertisement for a Vancouver marketing company trying to profit from the influx of locust money.

And…just like New Coast Realty, it’s 100% ethnic chinese employees.

I would imagine that The Turd™ in Ottawa who obsesses over gender parity doesn’t give a fuck about racial parity.

Imagine if in this day and age, a business in Canada hired only white people.

Fucking hypocrisy everywhere.

Guest

Just me

And I thought Canada embraced diversity. There is nothing about diversity in this phenomenon: it is a massive tsunami of one culture shoving away everyone else.
A few people will profit from it, but for the majority of us this is bad news. Resources are limited, beginning with land.

Member

Best place on meth

“Resources are limited, beginning with land.”

Crab legs will also be in short supply soon.

Guest

Oracle

Watch blueberry and cherry prices next year…Chinese demand going to be huge. Real fun will start when water is sold and locals can’t afford to shower. Locals asleep at the wheel and allowing they elite to plunder..

Member

Doomcouver

Canada has no shortage of land, but short-sighted zoning policies to avoid urban sprawl make housing ridiculously expensive. Also, the Canadian government thinks they’re embracing diversity. What they’re actually embracing is ethnic cleansing through Chinese gentrification. A massive recession ought to send the migration in the opposite direction however. Most Chinese haven’t seen a credit collapse up close before, it should be an eye opener for them.

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Oracle

Why are people so brainwashed into thinking that Mobility Pricing has to happen?

Well if I’m Ham, i want all bridges tolled at say $25 per crossing. That way i can drive my ferrari over the bridges.
/s

Why not limit population growth in the Lower Mainland? Limit DL’s, Chargecard, etc. to say max 5000 new people a year? Why not? Because you’ve been brainwashed.

Soon the working class won’t be able to drive. Means your standard of living goes down. The worlds goes up. Why bend over?

Guest

Lost...but not leased

Surrey Crackdown on Illegal Suites? very strange…. Surrey is apparently going after Clayton Heights area property owners many of whom have suites that the City is collecting fees for. I recall Surrey was charging a fee for suites..and many paid the fee to comply and thus be legit?… NOT QUITE…the Surrey bylaw manager states that paying a fee is not equal to immunity…that the suite can be deemed illegal and “subject to a removal order in the future”. Many homes have a suite and a detached coach home..but you can rent one or the other not both….so far 175 landlords of”illegal suites” have been contacted,….and 125 landlord s of legal suites. Surrey seems adamant about turfing the tenants The issue seems to revolve around parking…..many of the SFH home landlords inform their tenants to park on street, no onsite parking…,… Read more »

Member

paulb

New
164
Price Change
44
Sold
110
TI:9991

http://www.clivestevepaul.com

Guest

bullwhip29

seriously, this $hit is getting so annoying that it is worth posting again…this time CBC picks up the story. as i mentioned a while ago there are a couple of weasels selling crates of undersized crabs all over Rmd for approx 60-70% off retail prices. apparently they only do home delivery late at night to customers that are referred to them. at this rate there will be no crab, salmon and other seafood we take for granted left to eat. maybe this is why HAM has bought up all kinds of seafood farms up and down the BC coast? they see the writing on the wall…

Hsin Chan and Li Chun fined for fishing without licence, harvesting undersized crab
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/crabs-legs-fined-white-rock-1.4292547

Guest

Combat roach

It’s natural instinct, fucks can’t-do it the other way unless to fuck-up someone or something no matter what is it. It’s not called vermin or locust for nothing. The saddest part is an enormous support and approval they get from local cheerleaders and admirers.

Member

Best place on meth

They do as they please because the punishment in this country for all the shitty things they do is next to nothing, and they have zero respect for our laws in the first place.

Literally, they are the worst people to ever exist.

Guest

Abdul Lahazi

Ending tolls snarls traffic on Port Mann, Golden Ears bridges:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/port-mann-congestion-commuters-angry-1.4289533

But since the tolls were axed his commute from Chilliwack to Burnaby has nearly doubled.
“Before it took me about an hour and 15 minutes. It now takes me approximately two and a half hours to get to work,” he said.

This won’t be good for house prices out in the valley…

Member

Simple Solution

welcome to the law of unintended consequences….

Isn’t “free” stuff provided by the government awesome?

Guest

Lost...but not leased

Maybe the NDP could dust off Fast Ferries ?

They should have had a study done first re: impact of toll removal…….duh

OR….they simply are setting us up for a more insidious solution like ” mobility pricing.”..there ain’t no freebies when these politicians and bureaucrats still have a pulse.

Member

Simple Solution

No need for a study… was OBVIOUS what was gonna happen…remove cost – more use

That said election promise fulfilled!

Member

Doomcouver

Site C is turning into 10 times the disaster fast ferries was. Site C was an obvious big fat handout and make-work project for BC Hydro and a middle finger to taxpayers.

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YVR

The mobility pricing will be coming. It will be less popular than the tolls. If the NDP was smart they would have brought in the mobility pricing at the same time they eliminated the tolls. The people crossing the Fraser will pay the same amount in the end but it will seem worse because they will be going from free instead of going from paying a toll to a new fee.

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YVR

“Isn’t “free” stuff provided by the government awesome?”

It is awesome for those who don’t pay taxes and now pay nothing with elimination of “unfair” user fees. Soon BC medical will be completely free. I bet half the HAMers don’t bother with MSP because of the monthly fee. They go to a basement “doctor”. With no MSP fee coming it will be a free for all. Those basement doctors are going to hate it.

Member

Doomcouver

They’re just butthurt because they don’t get a semi-private bridge anymore. Only wealthy or upper middle-class people could afford the tolls on a daily basis, and tolling these bridges pushed a ridiculous amount of traffic to other free crossings like the Pattullo and Alex Fraser. Road pricing or tolling on all GVR/fraser valley bridges is the only good solution over the long haul. Scrapping the tolls on these two bridges is a good idea, hopefully they replace it with something though so taxpayers don’t get unfairly screwed.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

The Executive Summary is ..drum roll……..”SOL” The old SOCRED(remember them???) method was MEGA PROJECTS….ie Coquihalla Highway..Tumbler Ridge..etc etc. whereby you might create a few thousand jobs in the construction phase and then maybe a few hundred permanent as a projection. Tumbler Ridge (aka NorthEast coal) viabilty was based on Japanese demand…..and the Japanese encouraged production in other countries as well so that the Japanese could manipulate the market and force price reduction. Site C , Pipelines etc follow this Mega Project pattern of false hope to the masses. From what I’ve read they are not viable in either the short or long term..and even worse..a major fiscal liability..especially Site C whereby BC Hydro customers will be hit with big time rate increases. This then begets the question…incompetence??? or is this by design so that we are forced to “privatize” these… Read more »

Member

Best place on meth

Of course it’s by design, the LibCreds want to run all public services into the ground so their donors can take them over for pennies.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

Re “Tolls”..

Nothing wrong with Tolls per se…..as long as the acquired funds are dedicated SOLELY to the debt servicing of the specific infrastructure project. Oak Street Bridge. Lions Gate bridge and Massey tunnel once had tolls.

The problem is when the Tolls become a revenue source for Gov’t ..like ICBC…(which should be eliminated).

ICBC (and BC Hydro ) have been manipulated into cash cows for Gov’t under auspices of providing dividends TO Gov’t….so moi with a spotless driving record since 1975 am obligated to pay for Charlie Chans 10th + Ferrari this month ???/ as well as assisting in mortgage payments for Injury Lawyers and Bodyshops ????.

There is only ONE taxpayer and it ain’t happy……

Guest

YVR

“This won’t be good for house prices out in the valley…”

Actually most people would rather have a longer drive time than pay the $3 toll. The change in traffic proves that. All those people were previously taking a more time consuming route otherwise they would not have not switched to these bridges without the tolls.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

That may or may not be true. Part of the problem is that everybody changed their behaviour at the exact same time. It’ll take a while for things to settle down.

Member

patriotz

“It now takes me approximately two and a half hours to get to work”

That’s because all those people who used to go the long way to avoid the toll are now going the shortest way. The aggregate travel time, and distance traveled, has gone down.

Guest

Oracle

Many people owning multiple homes start putting houses under their kids name once they reach adulthood. These houses were supposedly rented out since they were bought long ago.

I guess Lawyers do it somehow and the reason is no cap gains payable. But I guess if everyone is doing it, gov looks the other way?

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bullwhip29

there are no cap gains if property in question is principal residence which we will refer to as #house 1 (as declared on your tax return now). the moment parents put their child’s name on title a disposition is deemed to have been triggered which now has to be reported on your tax return along with the year of acquisition of said property (house #1). the conundrum that now exists for longterm owners of multiple properties revolves around how to explain what you have been doing with house #2 (rental and/or secondary home) between the time you acquired it and the day it became you new principal residence after house #1 was transferred tax free to your child.

Member

Simple Solution

Only a conundrum if it is actually reported which I bet is not reported in the majority of cases… Easiest thing in the world for CRA to monitor…

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bullwhip29

to qualify for certain benefits an income tax return has to be filed (even if income is zero) with filer having to fill in certain details with respect to principal residence now. if names and addresses change, red flags SHOULD go up at least in theory. once it becomes apparent to CRA that certain info is missing they can go back as many years as required (not just 7 yrs) to reconcile who owned what and when to determine if massive cap gains tax is owning in addition to requesting banking records to source out undeclared rental income payments and so forth.

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Oracle

I know of a few cases where it triggered nothing. The people ‘found’ a lawyer. only reason i was curious is because blogs like this say otherwise.

I’m pretty sure no one ended up paying any cap gains or even declared rental income.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

Re Capital Gains Too bad that people get all riled up by the abuse in the system by the” usual suspects ” to the point that they think even Capital Gains exemptions on principal residences should be stopped. What one would often find would be vacant homes full of mail with Asian names..an old trick of directing mail ANECDOTE; Property is bought..new house is constructed…then we here about some “student” listed as an owner, my understanding is that is not acceptable to CRA….the student has to show income that correlates with their ability to buy the lot and build the house. Lets be blunt..the SFH market is run by South Asians builders selling to wealthy Asians. If these groups had some serious auditing it would be an eye opener. CRA could easily fix this by requiring longer residency in a… Read more »

Member

Simple Solution

Canada also taxes its residents based on worldwide income.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

True…..but it appears it is poorly enforced as Mr Wozny report implies. Whose fault is that? Regardless of which party is in power, they must have projected what the consequences would be by not enforcing the existing rules on immigrant and foreign money. Now its too late,….and the SHTF…IMHO…they don’t want fingers pointed at them…so they hope it will implode on its own. GOOGLE Principal Residence Exemption and you’ll see that the Trudeau Liberals made several changes in OCT. 2016…..such as the sale of “Principal Residence ” must be reported…..Seems like they created a lot of tools for CRA..but will they be used and when ? Like Wozny stated….you have these anomalies of some of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Richmond and Vancouver showing highest poverty levels. WTF?? ..if that ain’t a red flag. What you probably need is one CRA… Read more »

Member

Simple Solution

What we need is an audit of sales in the past 5 years. Cant be too hard to match sales against tax returns and then see who reported or didn’t. Wouldn’t take too many examples before people started running to do a “voluntary disclosure”

Better yet, offer a one time tax amnesty. Report your real estate transactions and CRA will waive any penalties.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

One of the problems is Asians tend to use (2) or more names. a Chinese and an Anglophone name..and Chinese women often use their maiden names. One time amnesty??? IMHO this would expose serial abusers..y’know..those parties that build a new house every couple of years and sell…this is rampant in the South Asian community…..be prepared for the SHTF discrimination cries when CRA can no longer hold back. The CRA magic wand is simply assessing th e situation and determing if it is a (i) business or (ii) and investment. If you have built say 4 homes in 7 years and claimed Principal Residence on each, they may say no..you are in the business of building homes…no exemption. ….as I said…Trudeau and company set up red flag traps on RE last year….now they are going after small business. PS..one reason I… Read more »

Member

Simple Solution

Anyone who buy and sell “principle residence” should be taxed the same way as any other speculator is…..

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Oracle

Don’t make David Eby angry. He is on the other side now.

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Oracle

Bingo!! Some have 2 passports.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Having 2 passports does not help avoid tax.

Guest

bullwhip29

maybe it’s citizens, not it’s “residents”

Member

Simple Solution

Capital gains should be the same for everything. Either have them or not. What is the difference between a stock going up or a piece of dirt going up? Why should that gain be taxed differently?

Guest

Shut It Down Already

What about capital losses? Or deduction of interest expenses?

Guest

bullwhip29

you cant have it both ways where some schmuck is writing off this and that all while claiming principal residence exemption (and no business/rental income whatsoever) at a later time.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

The question is if capital gains should apply (as in there is no principal residence exemption), then should calpital losses be claimable too (just like a stock held outside of a registered account)?

Nobody is talking about allowing capital loss deductions whilst keeping the exemption for gains.

Guest

bullwhip29

got it.

for what it’s worth there would be rioting in the streets if there was even the slightest rumbling of such a measure. if anything, the powers that be go the other direction, hit the nuke button and allow mortgage interest to be fully deductible at some point

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Lost...but not leased

Advise people to look at CRA rule changes circa Oct. 2016… Have a CA tell me that average person has a 90% chance of not getting audited…we know there are a lot of cheats out there. When the Hong Kong er came, a lot of them bought homes that sat empty for months if not years..the mail piled up addressed to distinctly chinese names…who never lived there. Obviously they took some experts advice. It appears that CRA and Gov’t were lobbied by Law Societies to back off….as the Lawyer Client privilege was used as a means to grant quasi immunity . Ironically it was a caucasian lawyer and a South Asian builder who worked a $50 million RE ponzi scheme that forced a big levy on BC Law Society. members. My guess is CRA will go after mid stream fish… Read more »

Member

Simple Solution

CRA also needs to go after rental income. The “mortgage helper” should be treated the same as the “second job”. Its income, it gets taxed.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

Depends….. My guess s is MOST suites are illegal, and likely rent income unreported….though CRA (, due to privacy walls that exist between jurisdictions)… doesn’t get involved on a suites legality per se…just the ca$h flow baby. But..here we go again..if the hammer came down and the powers that be did a massive clampdown on illegal suites…a whole other problem of homelessness and displacement would be massive…again..the turn a blind eye. If you go the “authorized ‘route…you become liable for building code compliance, and now more of a naked target. It comes down to worrying about a tenant ratting you out or not… The irony is the rooming house option..whereby if you rent separate rooms and the tenants share bathroom and kitchen….its “legal” ……..It often boils down to whether you have a separate “stove plug “or not…….it can be quite… Read more »

Member

patriotz

A “mortgage helper” generates no net income pretty much by definition, i.e. ownership costs exceeding rental value.

Guest

YVR

Not for people who own outright or have small mortgages, which there are many of.

Member

Owen

Help paying off your mortgage IS income.

Guest

Oracle

The renters tax credit may have outed landlords. But now it will never happen.

Member

Simple Solution

Capital losses written off against gains. Interest expenses deducted from gains.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

How would you deduct the interest expenses from the gains when the gains may not be crystallized for 30 years?

Member

patriotz

Net rental losses are deductible against current total income. Of course, to take this deduction you have to declare yourself as a landlord to CRA. I don’t know how many landlords declare the loss, or how many know about it but don’t declare in the hope of evading capital gains later on.

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Lost...but not leased

Good points…. However, given inflation and other factors…it appears every market gets juiced and goosed if for no other reason as to keep up with inflation. …ie the stock market and RE markets .,rarely in sync….compliment each other. RE prices continue to rise, whereas a given stock could tank at any moment. Here in Canada, and especially Greater Vancouver ,….we sold out to foreign interests long ago. IMHO, interest rates were kept low so as to give locals some sense of hope to compete with offshore money in the RE market. where locals got sucked into RE and now judgement day is coming. In the US, they had enough domestic economy to support their housing bubble…whereas Canada let foreigners lead then lure in its own citizens. Stocks?…probably a bigger scam than RE..at least RE creates a quantifiable employment via various… Read more »

Member

Doomcouver

Real estate is a way bigger scam when we’re talking about an investment vehicle. Let’s talk about productive vs. non-productive assets. If you buy a stock on the stock market, that represents you investing in a company that produces something that generates money. Now you can argue that some of the inflated stock prices are a rip-off, but at least these companies are trying to make money for their shareholders. If you buy real estate, it doesn’t “produce” anything, unless you are renting it. In addition, due to incomes not keeping up with housing prices, rental yields are exceptionally poor in most cities in Canada. I ran some numbers on the townhouse I rent, and it’s about 2.9% rent to price per year. Many homes in Vancouver that are rented give 1% return or less. Factor in maintenance, strata fees,… Read more »

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Abdul Lahazi

Well said. Real Estate speculation is not investing it is gambling. A professional investor is looking at ROI not some fairy tale pie-in-the-sky maybe speculative return if they can sell to a greater fool.

Guest

Lost...but not leased

IMHO, stocks used to be a good investment…..but seriously, excluding blue chips… unless you are an insider you simply wait for a “Greater Fool”. ..moreseo since many markets have global exposure..aka usually some” pump and dump “crooks take over that shelter funds in various tax haven. Real Estate lure is the historical demand for “king of the castle”….. primal instinct for independence and autonomy. This is not to say it isn’t manipulated as well..but at the end of the day “someone” ends up owning whats left……as opposed to a stock like Bre X or NorTel with huge capitalization which effectively vanished. That Dot.com mania far exceeded any Real estate pump and dump. Like precious metals as an investment….credible advisors say take physical possession of the asset..DO NOT purchase paper rights….or you can be SOL via getting sucked into a quasi… Read more »

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Abdul Lahazi

Equities are a good investment if you do your homework. The problem is most people are too lazy to do their due diligence. It takes WORK to make money in the stock markets whereas real estate is the lazy man’s way to perceived wealth.

Member

patriotz

Takes no work at all to get a dividend yield of about 4%, which is equivalent after tax to a net rental yield of about 5%.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com//globe-investor/markets/stocks/summary/?q=XDV-T

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Abdul Lahazi

Yup.

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bullwhip29

Look for a 75-cent loonie when Canadian dollar comes off its ‘sugar high’, forecasters warn
http://business.financialpost.com/investing/look-for-a-75-cent-loonie-as-canadian-dollar-comes-off-its-sugar-high-forecasters-warn

Guest

bullwhip29

Canadians now owe $1.68 for every $1 disposable income they earn as debt burden grows
http://business.financialpost.com/news/economy/household-debt-to-disposable-income-ratio-climbs-higher-in-second-quarter

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Blame foreigners, though.

Guest

bullwhip29

Vancouver’s push for density presents opportunities for small-time investors
https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/vancouver/vancouvers-push-for-density-presents-opportunities-for-small-time-investors/article36248111

>>> no signs of any froth here…

Guest

bullwhip29

Why Are There So Many Empty Stores on Our Biggest Shopping Streets?
http://vanmag.com/city/city-informer-empty-stores-biggest-shopping-streets/

>>> it should be apparent by now that Gr Vanc’s RE, whether it be residential, commercial or agricultural, is effectively seen as an alternative to bitcoin not a place to actually live or conduct business

Member

Simple Solution

This is because we are a ‘WORLD CLASS’ city and like all WORLD CLASS cities we have massive amounts of high paying jobs so people have lots of disposable income to support business….

Oh wait…

Member

Doomcouver

This doesn’t surprise me because high cost of housing is draining money from other parts of the economy. No money left for shopping retail when you have to spend every penny you can get on your $1 million+ east-side crack-shack.

Our bubble is much much bigger than the Americans, and we would have been much better off if it had popped back in 2008. Instead we’re going to have a once in a generation credit implosion in Canada, and the saddest part is everyone should have seen it coming.

Guest

bullwhip29

the whole RE game here has been turned on its head now that everything for the most part (from traditional residential perspective) has been bought up. the cookie cutter SFH on a standard city lot situated on an inside street probably has the least amount of upside left in it as compared to all the other riff raff that could be torn down and rezoned into something else thereby unlocking some so called hidden value. if you take the white rock boardwalk for instance, people wonder what happened and why it’s a ghost town. the answer is it has been overrun by land assembly speculators/investors who have other plans for it. they could care less about all the mom and pop retail that used to be there. ditto for robson, s. granville, steveston, main and cambie villages etc…

Guest

Just me

Anyone likes to play wack-a-mole?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-15/china-s-wechat-crackdown-drives-bitcoin-devotees-to-telegram

WeChat is starting to see its first wave of defectors: Chinese cryptocurrency afficionados.

The country’s crackdown on bitcoin and WeChat, the nation’s dominant messaging app, is sending users of both to Telegram and other encrypted services banned in the country.

With administrators personally liable for what is said on groups they run, users of bitcoin exchanges OKCoin, Huobi and BTCChina are migrating to services beyond the Chinese government’s reach. On Telegram they are popping up to discuss everything from how to transfer their digital tokens overseas to more effective ways to protect privacy, to initial coin offerings.

Member

Bag it and tag it

That’s just a paid article placement by Telegram, trying to get new users.

Member

Doomcouver

I think the next logical step is for China to adopt an all digital currency solution. That is the only way they’re going to be able to track money flows. Obviously it won’t work for rural areas but if they swapped to all digital within the cities it would be much easier to prevent outflows. Ironically the solution to their crypto problem is a state-run cryptocurrency.

Member

Best place on meth

Give the rural peasants a free phone, they’ll enjoy playing with it while they’re shitting in their dirt holes.

Guest

Just me

Wozny, a real-estate business insider, appreciates the analyses of immigration lawyers Sam Hyman and Richard Kurland, and SFU professor Josh Gordon, who have pointed to loopholes in tax and real-estate laws.

They say unenforced laws allow wealthy speculators to avoid taxes by using trusts or companies to purchase real estate, by falsely claiming they are not “residents of Canada” for tax purposes and by buying residential property in the name of “proxies,” such as low-income spouses or children.

Even though Wozny considers himself a fiscal conservative, he said B.C. and Canada desperately need tax-code updates so that investors who buy multiple residential proprieties contribute more to their communities.

“The public has been cynically abandoned by governments”.

Guest

Just me

“The Americans would never tolerate such free riders. Canada has become a money-launderer’s paradise,” Wozny said in an interview.

“Seattle’s incomes are far higher than those in Metro Vancouver, and its economy is many times larger, yet its housing prices are far lower than they are in Metro Vancouver. The difference is that Seattle is governed by laws that tax worldwide incomes, and which don’t allow un-monitored capital flows.”

Wozny disagrees with real-estate lobbyists who attempt to explain the radical gap between housing prices and wages by saying many mansion owners in Richmond, Vancouver, Burnaby and West Vancouver are seniors getting by on low incomes.

That rationalization doesn’t make sense, Wozny said.

Member

Best place on meth

Canada should be the richest country by far due to our resources, but incompetent government at all levels for decades make us look second rate.

Importing massive amounts of third worlders over the last 30 years may be the tipping point.

Guest

YVR

“Wozny disagrees with real-estate lobbyists who attempt to explain the radical gap between housing prices and wages by saying many mansion owners in Richmond, Vancouver, Burnaby and West Vancouver are seniors getting by on low incomes.”

This is also true but it is part of the problem. Why should a person worth millions get a free ride on taxes when they are increasing taxes on those who ALREADY pay massive income taxes and are NOT worth millions.

Guest

Just me

I agree on this. Retired millionaires should not get a free ride. But the proportions don’t work: Wozniak is correctly pointing out that the real driver is untaxed money from China. Laundered and channelled to look almost legit.

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YVR

I think you would be surprised how many low income local seniors live in the most expensive houses on the Westside and West Van. Not the new ones but the old ones which is still most of them.

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YVR

I will add if someone owns an expensive house they are receiving income in kind. Their rent equivalent. If someone has a $5M house that would rent for $150K per year why should they be able to avoid taxes if other declared income was say $30K per year. If someone had a $5M invested, collected dividends and interest on it and then used that income to rent the $5M house they would pay income taxes on the dividends and interest. Why does one pay income taxes on $150K and the other pays no income taxes yet they both live the identical life style. And the person who owns the house also gets any capital gains tax free plus maybe suite rent tax free. Plus they are probably getting a bunch of other gov benefits.

Guest

Just me

All true. We have been saying it for years. Houses are a taboo in Canada: politicians appear scared to even dent the massive privileges enjoyed by homeowners.
But people are getting angrier by the day….the ranks of the losers are growing.
ANyway, the BC Libs were by far the wrong offenders on this front. They openly claimed that we should not reduce the hard won equity of home owners. That was just plain offensive.

Member

patriotz

“the ranks of the losers are growing.”

Maybe, maybe not. My prediction is that the owner-occupancy rate as reported by the 2016 Census will be at a record high for both Canada and metro Vancouver. We’ll find out in October.

Member

patriotz

“If someone has a $5M house that would rent for $150K per year why should they be able to avoid taxes if other declared income was say $30K per year. ”

Because it’s government policy at both federal and provincial levels to subsidize owner-occupancy. This also overlaps with subsidies to seniors. Why? Because they vote.

Member

yvr2zrh

To both @YVR and @partrioz – – you have completely hit the nail on the head. Why should the person who invests $5 million and gets dividends, interest and capital gains and then rents their house be treated different than a homeowner with $5 million house, no rent and no other income? Here in Switzerland – they figured this out a long time ago and homeowners face very high taxation because of the in kind benefit that their house provides them. Here in Switzerland, that $150,000 would be added to the owners taxable income and be subject to income tax in full (less interest and deductible costs). This model is extremely successful. Not to mention there are speculation taxes that essentially prevent you from selling for a gain in the first 10 years of ownership. What drives me crazy is… Read more »

Guest

YVR

The way Justin and the NPD spend money there won’t be enough to extract from those who declare income. As they skim more, less will get reported, and less will get earned as taxes are a drag on the economy. At some point they will have to come after those RE assets with some type of tax.

Member

Simple Solution

This would be the easiest way to bring some sanity back to the housing market. There is NO chance for anyone to ‘earn’ themselves into home ownership in this country…

Guest

Shut It Down Already

You should just be able to reach directly into their pockets, no? That’s surely “fair” in the eyes of the bitter have-nots.

Guest

YVR

So your position is the”have nots” should pay most of the taxes? You need to read your antifa manual. That is not their position.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

There are 1000x more of them, so why not? You’re deluding yourself if you think a couple of hundred thousand people can support the rest of the population.

Guest

YVR

I am not asking for a couple of hundred thousand to support the rest of the population. I am asking for those people to pay enough taxes to support their own services that they consume. When the gov looks for tax increases why do they keep coming to the people who already pay the most. Why should I pay the way for a house rich millionaire with a poverty level declared income. Especially when it is fairly obvious many have much higher incomes based on lifestyle. It also adds fuel to the housing bubble, which in the end, will come back to bite these same people who are riding it.

Guest

Shut It Down Already

I’m sure the targets of your hatred pay more than their fair share of taxes based on what they actually consume.

You’re not subsidizing the rich.

Guest

Just me

As usual, your statements have no factual nor intellectual content. So be it.
YVR told you something 100% correct. Accept he is right. Stop fighting losing battles.

Guest

YVR

“targets of your hatred”

Can you alt left wackos come up with something better? A discussion on taxation which started with me referring to house rich local elderly who live in Vancouver and are counted in the poverty class is now hatred? You pull the racist card every time you can’t win an argument or something doesn’t go your way. I feel for the poor people that have to work with you or deal with you in real life.

Guest

history

“For those that are watching, the number of foreclosure applications in Victoria is on the rise.

Snark
“Has it gone from one all the way to two?”

Hawk
Actually it has gone from zero for a very long time to 2, then 4 last week and 11 this week. If you were using a chart it would be showing a major foreclosure trend developing but some people are too fuking ignorant to look it up should it dare upset their bird sheit seat.

Canadian bankruptcies on the rise?

Househuntvictoria.ca

Guest

history

Hawk is surveying the land of Fibonacci

“zero for a very long time to 2, then 4 last week and 11 this week”

Observe, Zero for a long time….
0,0,0,2,4,11

Fib sequence
1,1,2,3,5,8

Guest

history

Anyone remember Green Acres? GREEN party is a fib.

Zero for a long time, then 1… then 1 or was it two?… but. now it’s 3…..

Guest

bullwhip29

Tax avoidance behind Metro’s disconnect between housing, income
http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-tax-avoidance-behind-metros-disconnect-between-housing-income

Member

Best place on meth

A reason why residents of Metro Vancouver municipalities with expensive housing tend to report lower incomes than people in less-costly municipalities is that many of the former avoid declaring their total wealth, said Wozny, whose company has produced 1,200 studies on real-estate trends in Canada and the U.S.

“Canada has become a freeloader society” in which some mansion owners have found ways to avoid reporting their total incomes to the Canada Revenue Agency, said Wozny, who will speak on Sept. 25 at the convention of the Union of B.C. Municipalities in Vancouver.

Residents of Richmond, Burnaby, the city of Vancouver and West Vancouver — which have the most expensive housing costs in Metro — also have on average the highest rates of poverty.

HOW DO YOU SPELL THE WORST, CANCEROUS DISEASE EVER TO AFFLICT CANADA?

M-A-N-D-A-R-I-N

Guest

Combat roach

And yet Canada wants more of that shit instead to clean up and dispose existing garbage, insane.

Guest

YVR

Don’t worry about all those people who don’t report income nor pay any taxes. The NDP sure don’t. Instead the NDP has increased taxes on those who honestly report income and pay taxes. The federal Liberals will also go after honest business owners who declare income and require them to pay more taxes with their new “fair” tax plan. You would think it would be more fair to START with the cheats who pay next to nothing in taxes and live a lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Guest

Combat roach

Going on those who don’t report, cheat and steal would be seen as racist and politically incorrect therefore it is alright and fair.

Guest

Just me

It sounds like a joke. But in Vancouver is the way things work. If a large enough group from the same country commits crimes repeatedly, it is hard to bring them to justice. Bureaucrats shake in their boots at the simple thought of being seen as racist. So the crimes go on….

Guest

Shut It Down Already

Except you just made that up.

Guest

Just me

I have a hard time believing that this still surprises anyone. When some of the poorest census tracts in the metro area are those with multimillion dollar homes, it means the system is broken and needs fixing. Are our politicians up to the task of fixing it? If nothing is done, honest tax payers will be forced to vote for extreme parties which will take care of business. If any politician is reading this: act now! We are in a sever emergenecies, and honest hardworking people are hurting. I am not talking about destitute, homeless and people with mental health problems. I am talking about the very people that make the city work on a daily basis (doctors, teachers, lawyers, professionals). These are the people who get taxed but cannot afford to buy a shithole in this city. Shame on… Read more »

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YVR

“Are our politicians up to the task of fixing it?”

Eby held a press conference on this type of stuff every second week prior to the election. He said how easy it would be for the province to crack down on and assist CRA. Now he is the head of law enforcement in BC and he is silent on the biggest issue the province faces. It wasn’t even listed as one of the top 6 or 7 top issues he will work on. Instead he increases ICBC rates as his first move. I don’t recall him holding press conferences that ICBC rates should be increased as a top priority prior to the election. Disgraceful.

Member

Doomcouver

Canada really needs to institute tax prisons for the worst offenders. If you’re a millionaire from China and don’t report your worldwide income, I think some hard time in prison is in short order. Using social services and not paying your fair share is no different than theft and should be treated as such.

Vancouver Condo Info

New regulation lead to 44% drop in CMHC mortgages

Bubble? What Bubble?