It’s the end of another work week and that means it’s time for another Friday free-for-all! 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:
–Detached sales hit low of 2008
–Vancouver Titanic
–Snow-washing
–Central banks reverse QE
–About that NZ buyer ban
–
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below and have an excellent weekend!
“In B.C., 4 in 10 people say they’re $200 away from not being able to pay the bills: survey”, Global News
https://globalnews.ca/news/3962951/british-columbia-household-debt-mnp/
“$200 — if you ask British Columbians, that’s all that separates four in 10 of them from not being able to pay the bills.”
“That’s according to the MNP Consumer Debt Index, a quarterly survey that gauges how well Canadians can afford their bills, stick to budgets and cope with changes like interest rate hikes.”
Much of it tied to RE-related debt, most likely.
The debt service ratio was nearly 11% before the US market crashed and interest rates fell through the floor. With today’s house prices and the increasing interest rates, I wonder what the debt service ratio would be given an interest aligned with historical averages circa 5.5%
THOMAS DAVIDOFF, JOSHUA GOTTLIEB AND TSUR SOMERVILLE call on NDP to fulfill campaign promise to tax foreigners and non tax paying residents. Is Patriotz correct the NDP will not follow through? Will Carol James keep her promise to not target foreigners? Will Horgan keep his promise to protect home owners equity?
To this end, we urge the B.C. government to fulfill its campaign promise to implement the B.C. Housing Affordability Fund. This would tax properties that are not used to house residents who work and pay taxes locally. More generally, shifting the provincial tax base from income to real estate would lead to a more livable region and a more stable and sustainable economy.
A shocking B.C. Supreme Court case that pitted two rich families from China against each other provides grim revelations about the kind of migration, tax, and real-estate scams regularly occurring .
Immigration and tax lawyers are stunned that the Fu and Zhu families became embroiled in a lengthy civil suit over three multi-million dollar houses they purchased together in Vancouver, since their case provides evidence of their illicit schemes around real estate, tax avoidance and immigration.
“This case provides unusually candid insight into what those who would abuse our immigration and real-estate systems really think in their own words about their true motives for seeking access to Canada and our real estate,” said Vancouver immigration lawyer Sam Hyman.
David Lesperance, a Toronto-based immigration and tax lawyer, said: “The fact that two different parties … would choose to fully expose their transgressions in a public forum shows either blinding ignorance, or complacency about the ramifications of that exposure, given the longtime lack of enforcement of immigration and tax laws in Canada.”
1. Not declaring full worldwide income to Canadian tax officials
Judge Susan Griffin scoffed at one family’s breadwinner, Guoqing Fu, for declaring to the Canadian Revenue Agency he had a worldwide income of only $97.11.
2. Pretending to spend time in Canada to meet residency requirements
Chunquin Zhou referred to one of her Vancouver luxury houses as “immigration jail,” a term often adopted by well-off would-be migrants.
3. Hiding real real-estate ownership
The Fu and Zhu families were well versed in how to avoid taxes on the sale of their houses by making false claims about the actual owners.
4. Lack of regulation of real-estate agents
The son’s phoney claims about spending time in Canada were coordinated by the families’ realtor, identified only as “Mr. Gu.” The realtor assisted the son by helping provide false pay cheques, false employment records and false verbal claims about losing his permanent-resident card while in China.
5. Illicitly laundering money out of China
The Fu versus Zhu case baldly highlights the two families’ efforts to break the laws of China, which is increasingly placing tighter restrictions on the amount of money it allows to leave the economic powerhouse.
6. Misusing provincial migration programs
The two families from China initially started their application process to move to and invest in Canada by going through the provincial nominee programs of Prince Edward Island and Manitoba, jurisdictions which lack the popularity of Metro Vancouver and Toronto for migrants.
7. Exploiting Canadian courts, with costly trials
Postmedia reporter Sam Cooper is among the journalists who are increasingly covering lengthy cases in which foreign nationals attempt to use Canadian civil courts to solve their trans-national legal disputes.
But, as Hyman says, it costs Canadian taxpayers a great deal to provide the judges, buildings and legal staff to run the court system, even when the losing side sometimes has to contribute to opponents’ lawyers’ fees.
Now the scrams like this has been made public, the question is whether the Canadian Immigration is going to doing something about it or just simply hide under a rock.
Rookie MLA Michael Lee claims membership lead in Liberal leadership race
http://vancouversun.com/news/politics/rookie-mla-michael-lee-claims-lead-in-liberal-leadership-race
Signing up the most members doesn’t get you a win. Like the federal Conservatives and unlike the federal NDP, the BC Liberal leadership race uses regional weighting. I suspect his signups are heavily weighted in a few metro Vancouver ridings.
sure, you could be right but media has been tip toeing very carefully around the elephant in the room, which is that certain interest groups may finally be ready to elect one of their own as leader and be done with all the superficial niceties now that they have the numbers to pretty much dictate whatever they want
Now that acting leader Rich Coleman has endorsed de Jong, I would consider him the front runner. But as the federal Cons have shown you can’t predict this kind of race.
Flipper Special: 2088 Allison Road, Van West
Listed for $7,280,000 (assessed $8,370,000)
Sale Date
September 8, 2012
Sale Price
$5,600,000
Sale Date
April 25, 2007
Sale Price
$2,368,000
Sale Date
February 25, 2002
Sale Price
$1,100,000
Sale Date
November 24, 1992
Sale Price
$1,100,000
If the property was last sold in 2012, it could hardly be considered a “flip”.
Flipper special: 5972 Chancellor Blvd Van West Duplex.
listed for $2,888,000 (assessed $2,936,000)
Sale Date
August 14, 2012
Sale Price
$1,638,000
Sale Date
May 12, 2009
Sale Price
$1,798,000
Sale Date
August 23, 2007
Sale Price
$1,722,750
My lawyer friend has 9 closing on new presale completions this month , 2 have failed to complete and 3 others he is anticipating falling through. Funds have vanished- all foreign mainland buyers he takes his cut from deposits . Ships happening
Of course it’s the same happening here; just ask the Australians.
I always get a warm fuzzy feeling when I hear these stories…thanks for sharing. Bring us more!
Some deals fell through; it’s normal like your whining every hour.
“He takes his cut from deposits”
This is where you lost credibility.
Aren’t deposits put in escrow with lawyers?
Yes they are. And?
IPO re SIDA and BoomBoobs pre-sale condos.
Don’t miss out…on ” La Morlock”..for brain – dead subterranean leaches
SIDA!
SIDA!
See Duh ..
Seed DUh
Bob and Glegol Rennie’s trolls
Info- mercial evidence suggest SIDA and BoomBoobs are Tom Vu’s last disciples..must be worth something on E Bay…
And then I suppose that lawyers pay themselves first (legally).
First of all lawyers can’t help themselves to trust funds. Second I doubt any developer would make a contract with a lawyer guaranteeing them closing fees on properties that don’t close.
He said he files a charge to title and can’t be sold until he paid and charges double
I recommend open- minded parties(sorry SIDA and fellow useless ilk ) GOOGLE this article :
” Mother Jones magazine :” IS YOUR CITY BEING SOLD OFF TO GLOBAL ELITES ? ”
***** TO: VCI Admin: Perhaps future topic?******
Probably as good as it gets re: “WTF happened ? “.
Literally every paragraph has VERY potent quotes.
One of many KEY terms is “path dependency” when a single economic activity seems to dominate all aspects of the socio-political sphere.
With respect to Metro Vancouver, clearly this is”|Real Estate”
Right or wrong..the powers that be were concerned we would be the” Detroit “of Canada, and that offshore investment was the one and only salvation.They rolled the dice….now the die are cast.THE END????
Anyway..read the article….lots of good points one does not find in MSM.
More later…
Was already discussed here about a week ago. Keep up.
Typical SIDA…..self -appointed deity…
…….but this is a free speech forum..much to thy highness’ displeasure.
It was better as a real estate forum.
You mean before you started interfering with it and mixing it with your own racial ghosts and fears?
We can’t expect anything more than lies from you then?
SIDA: What a piss poor rebuttal. You can’t debate the issue so you reply with a character assassination. So typical of you.
Irony isn’t your strong suit, then?
Do you even realize how unpleasant you have become? I am only grateful I don’t have to deal with you in real life, it would be tiring.
I assure you, I make no attempt to be pleasant with liars like Abdul – I’m glad you finally noticed. So yes, I do realize it.
And don’t worry, our lives are surely on orthogonal paths.
You mean that the projection gradient is zero?
Anyway, I find your remarks not only annoying but consistently incorrect. Abdul is contributing valuable information to this blog (unlike yourself).
valuable information? all you guys do is cut and paste. is there anything that have not been brought up since 2004?
According to SIDA, everyone here is a liar, or a racist, or an idiot or a whatever. What a sad and pathetic loser you are SIDA. You are a real sicko to keep coming onto a forum like this and spreading your venom every day without ever adding any value to any discussion, but just being a disagreeable asshole. What a proud person you must be.
And do you think you are a pleasant around others? With all the nuisant, constantly whining and bitching calling for handout, the sense if entitlement, I wonder anyone would want to be around you in real life party!
Worrying price trends for early January. The NDP better be quick introducing demand curbs.
https://www.zolo.ca/vancouver-real-estate/trends
By all metrics, this is an unusually strong start to the year. Smurfs are hard at work.
Check the reporting period, Dec 14 – Jan 11.
Small sample size, not enough data to make even an educated guess from that.
It could also be the last leg of frenzied buying by people who are worried about OSFI rules. There is a sizeable subset of the population who don’t understand how prices might go down following tighter credit criteria.
After fifteen years of madness it might seem inconceivable, but prices can go down. Even for Vancouver real estate.
… or an unusually strong end to the year as every warm body and their dog tried to beat the OSFI legislation. The current stats: Current (Dec 14 – Jan 11)
Agreed….
Totally predictable” mini-boom” of last gasp of greater fools buying into a peaking market as interest rates go up(and will likely continue to).
I think this is called a bull trap.
Then the SHTF..fasten your seatbelts.
Did not see your comment before posting. I think you might be right.
Hopefully things will decline from here on.
“‘Money For Nothing’ – Vancouver Economy Dependent On Mortgage Magic”, Vancouver RE Archive https://vreaa.wordpress.com “When a mortgage is issued, money is injected into the economy from… nowhere. Most people don’t realize this. Most think that mortgages come from money that originated in the real economy that is actually deposited in the bank, but that is most definitely not where mortgages come from. This ignorance is very widespread… poll intelligent people you know… you will find that most do not understand that commercial banks have the power to create new money.” “If somebody borrows $2 Million from a Canadian bank to buy a $4 Million Vancouver home, that $2 Million is created from nowhere. Nobody earned that money; the economy gets an artificial boost unrelated to any actual economic productivity within our society.” “Vancouver has seemed to do well economically over… Read more »
Excellent comment !!!!!
Anecdotally…I’ve read that $1 million is “created” upon the birth of every Canadian.
The US Federal Reserve…exposed as a Private Sector Entity..is apparently guaranteed by Gov’t an annual profit of 6%.
How?…well given they appear to be nothing but a fiat currency generator, …..they must be paid/compensated by producing more fiat currency that has numerous possibilities as to their destination.
BoC can’t be much different.
““If somebody borrows $2 Million from a Canadian bank to buy a $4 Million Vancouver home, that $2 Million is created from nowhere.”
That’s just nonsense. Banks can only loan out deposits. If that were true, corporations would set up their own banks to loan them money, instead of paying to borrow on the bond market. Also if it were true, banks themselves would not borrow money (i.e. take deposits) and pay interest on it.
“From nowhere” is an exaggeration, but lending by commercial banks does increase the money supply, as both the deposit liabilities and the money that is loaned out based on those deposits are considered money. So VREEA has a point. Low interest rates and increased lending has increased the money supply and led to inflation of assets like RE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional-reserve_banking
“Because banks hold reserves in amounts that are less than the amounts of their deposit liabilities, and because the deposit liabilities are considered money in their own right, fractional-reserve banking permits the money supply to grow beyond the amount of the underlying base money originally created by the central bank”
Not that much of an exaggeration. In the UK the commercial banks create 97% of the money. I don’t have the figures for Canada but I can’t imagine its that different.
For someone who is ostensibly so knowledgeable, you really do need to read up on fractional reserve lending.
“you really do need to read up on fractional reserve lending.”
FYI, fractional reserve lending means that banks can only lend out their total amount of deposits minus a fraction which is kept in reserve.
Just because you say something on the internet doesn’t mean it’s right. A lot of misinformation about how money is created.
“In the modern economy, most money takes the form of bank deposits. But how those bank deposits are created is often misunderstood: the principal way is through commercial banks making loans. Whenever a bank makes a loan, it simultaneously creates a matching deposit in the borrower’s bank account, thereby creating new money.”
If you’re feeling uneducated (not naming any names (p……z), then please have a read before spouting forth:
https://www.monetary.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy.pdf
Nothing you said in this post (which I already know BTW) disagrees with what I said in the immediately preceding post.
So what exactly are you disagreeing with?
Banks create deposits by lending money. Not the other way round as you believe. Please read the paper from the Bank of England that I linked to explaining it all, I linked to it in the past as well so disappointed you remain uninformed. By the way corporations don’t start banks and lend to themselves because banks are heavily regulated because they create almost almost all of the money in an economy. Ownership is regulated, as is their loan books, so even if they did start their own banks they would have limits to related parties. However, in many 3rd world countries banks are owned by corporations and they end up lending to related parties and getting into trouble when the loans can’t be repaid. In 1st world countries banks have concentration limits, along with all other types of risk… Read more »
Patrioz – Please stop spouting this nonsense. Take a course or read something about it before acting like an authority when you don’t have a clue!
Pasting the first paragraph again.
Matt Westcoast
Gregor Robertson was chief cheerleader for the Real Estate Cartel and had the nerve to call Andy Yan’s work racist. Andy Yan who is ethnically chinese and who’s parents paid the Chinese head tax. As the Municipal leader of Vancouver he had the opportunity to stand up to the flood of foreign cash and call it out… His being complicit made it easier for BC Liberals to also continue with the corruption and money laundering that has driven offshore purchases of local real estate.
Mayor Qu is quitting because the NDP cut off the funding from his real estate buddies.
Thank you Horgan/Eby for getting rid of this piece shit like you got rid of that other piece of shit, Krusty.
There is probably something true in this. Political contributions played a key role in keeping Robertson and Clark happy. Money did probably change hands regularly, even though we want to think otherwise.
I know it might seem far-fetched, but the evidence is building up. Too many hints pointing at unhealthy relationships between our past politicians and the RE cartel.
Reminder: She won the most seats and got the most votes.
Weightlifters who won the silver and the bronze combined they total weight to steal the gold.
You seem to constantly forget this.
Reminder: If she won anything why did she quit after realizing her party was about to give her the boot? Doesn’t sound like a victory in any way shape or form.
I forgot nothing. Christy Clark did not win a majority and squandered a massive electoral advantage in a few months.
Where she won, she did it on the back of promising further easy gains to homeowners. She promised to let the mainland Chinese have their way with Vancouver RE. Many people want to sell to the Chinese and strike riches.
She, of course, did not do great in Metro Van because people are fed up with the corruption. In Vancouver people recognize things for what they are: Chinese mainlanders bringing in dirty cash and laundering it in RE.
Prove it, asshole. Or, are you getting your “evidence” from the usual Postmedia hacks?
“In Vancouver people recognize things for what they are: Chinese mainlanders bringing in dirty cash and laundering it in RE.”
And things are better now? Last time I checked prices were up and HAM has not been suppressed in anyway. As Patriotz said don’t get your hopes up the budget will address this issue.
If you want to make claims about what someone said give a direct quote, like I do. Put up or shut up.
Admin deleted it. Right, Abdul?
You seem to constantly forget what the rules are.
This is the British Parliamentary system, not clean & jerk.
Actually the developers fund both the NPA and Vision almost equally which it give neither an advantage. It is the US backed environmental organizations with the greenest city and bike lane agenda that gave Gregor the advantage which is now gone.
http://theprovince.com/opinion/vivian-krause-a-vote-for-vision-is-a-vote-for-u-s-oil-interests
That Andy Yan “study” was one of the stupidest studies ever done. Full of holes and statistically irrelevant. It sure got a lot of play, though.
Yan’s study was no “stupider” than those ridiculous foreign ownership numbers from StatsCanada. I would place more faith in Andy Yan’s methodology than I would in the bogus methodology that the government used. The only people who don’t like Yan’s study are the people who have a vested interest in keeping the foreign invasion alive such as Gregor and Christy.
Well, FYI, the recent CMHC report backed up the StatsCan study. When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that “foreign buyers” have cashed out and moved on?
BTW, there IS no “foreign invasion”. Never was one. It was cheap interest rates that have always driven this market. You continue to be played by the RE industry.
I can’t debate a blind fool.
I think that Boombust is either (i) blind and unable to see who is buying RE in Vancouver or (ii) has a vested interest in misleading and accusing others of racism and such.
These are old tricks, won’t work anymore. Even the RE cartel has realized they don’t work.
No, Boombust takes on RE shills like you.
Boombust loves to misinform others. Most of what he writes is meaningless drivel about how Vancouver house prices have nothing to with money from China.
People have moved on, you don’t fool anyone.
Boomboobs (and SIDA) contribute NOTHING….useless trolls that submit dry , ignorance based comments…lack of debate…..and get their cult followers to skew the” reply” polls…
“Reply” is a button to, you know, reply. It’s not a poll.
Especially when the facts are against you. That makes it tricky.
Facts are not what I wou.d call what you write about. Fiction comes closer to the mark….defend mainland Chinese as a matter of principle, even when they are indefensible.
$15 billion of foreign purchases in Vancouver Real Estate in 2015…which is 40, $1mil homes per day.
Garth and his groupie posse are bad at math. Math is incontrovertible.
….blah blah blah….and earth is flat……
Blah blah blah, we have the data. Keep ignoring it and drinking the Brawndo, though.
The people who gave us the data also told they are very imperfect and essentially still unreliable. They are trying to improve on that, but it is not easy when the mainland Chinese are one step ahead hiding their loot.
It will always be imperfect. That doesn’t mean there’s an interpretation of it that says those nasty foreigners are shutting you out. Your misrepresentations are becoming tedious, and you’re clearly uninterested in any outcome that doesn’t let you blame foreigners for your personal failure.
As I said, please read up about what Stats Canada has said about the data they published. Imperfect is to put mildly.
The issue, as they stated, is the inability to link property records to beneficial owners. They think that obscure ownership structures are prevalent in many expensive areas of Vancouver.
They said that, not me.
CMHC data are universally recognized as being much lower in quality than those of Stats Canada. This is even more striking if you consider that people working at Stats Canada have publicly declared that their own data are preliminary and should be taken with caution, as they develop better ways to measures beneficial ownership and source of funds.
Why do you willingly mislead people is a mystery to me. You lose any credibility by writing such incorrect statements.
Of course that is the case since very few non residents can qualify for CMHCs products.
Sure. Sure it is.
Actually, Andy Yan did a much better job than simply reporting stupid averages. he looked into details, by type of property, area, and type of buyers. He showed us that there is much to be desired from these statistics and Statistics Canada publicly acknowledged that, after getting the feedback of Yan and others. In fact, Dr Mc Carrel from Stats Can publicly declared that this is just the beginning and there is much work to do to have more informative data. He called it the ‘tip of the iceberg”. This is the guy who gathers the data!
Andy Yan is providing a much needed public service, and we should all be grateful for his thorough analysis. This is about money, not race. And Dr Yan is making it clear by his actions.
…. and he said that 50 to 60% of condos/townhomes were owned by investors. 15% of those were owned by foreigners. That leaves the majority of investors as local smucks trying to get rich. Good luck with that as rates rise and OSFI kneecaps the speculators.
Of course everything Boombust says is the opposite of truth. Strange.
“The tip of the iceberg” can be interpreted a number of ways. It could also MEAN that they have not taken the time yet to delve into other aspects of the situation. Until then, it is mere speculation and hearsay.
It means, as they explained in their press conference, that they expect the actual importance of foreign money to be understated under current measurement methods. Google it and read what they said.
You might learn something.
And Garth Turner and his renter groupies.
Guy who reads neo-Nazi websites ignores facts to maintain his own prejudices? Sad!
Do you even realize that all you do is insult and accuse, often without solid foundation? What is your problem? Mother’s issues?
“was one of the stupidest studies ever done”. That’s comical…tantrum like response. Somebody is all in, Vancouver real estate and scared of anything which might lower prices.
Say what you want about his study, but it helped open people’s eyes which put pressure on BC gov to start tracking foreign buying, which essentially proved Yan’s study correct and also led to the FBT…
That FBT was a mere political ploy (what else is new?) on Clark’s part. Don’t be so dumb.
Even if I believe you ( which I don’t) about Chinese buyers, I think we should have even stricter FBT. At the very least we are raising more money and we are not hurting our own constituents, right? What is the downside of the FBT? There isn’t one.
Yes, it cannot possibly hurt local industry if current or potential foreign employees decide to relocate elsewhere so that they can buy.
Getting permanent residence takes 3 years at most. If they are serious about building a life here they can wait three years to buy? Is it too much to ask?
There is nothing racist or perverse, it is just common sense. Show us you really want to live and contribute to our society, we will then give unlucky the right to buy. Regardless of origin or race. Common sense.
For some it is too much to ask. So they might choose to relocate elsewhere. Ultimately the city/province lose out. You asked for a downside, I gave you a big one. Common sense.
If they cannot wait for three years to buy RE, then perhaps they should really go somewhere else.
A great comment about Robertson on the Van Sun. Worth sharing:
“an who is ethnically chinese and who’s parents paid the Chinese head tax. As the Municipal leader of Vancouver he had the opportunity to stand up to the flood of foreign cash and call it out… His being complicit made it easier for BC Liberals to also continue with the corruption and money laundering that has driven offshore purchases of local real estate.
All it needed was one politiciation at Federal, Provincial or Municipal level to make a stand. None did. Harper got turfed, Christy got turfed, and Gregor would have been turfed if he had not in essence fallen on his sword.”
Continued.
“The populace has rejected the lies of the Real Estate Cartel and politicians on the take. (That its racist to limit offshore capital in residential real estate, that supply will fix the problem . . . . etc) Any politician that perpetuates these lies will be turfed by the electorate. The electorate is rightfully pissed at the pathetic inaction and will continue to toss any government that does nothing meaningful. That will include the NDP if they choose to soft pedal on this issue.
Bravo Andrew Weaver for making a stand. The BC Liberals will learn the hard way if Sam Sullivan’s Real Estate Cartel friendly pitch sees him become their leader.“
.
Let’s not get too excited. San Fran has been ahead of us by about 18 mos – 2 years. First they had an incredible run up in prices and rents; developers starting adding record units, and about a year ago those units starred to add to inventory. They are only down by about 10%. More on new units in unestablished areas but still good places are insanely high.
The process of slowing the market was much slower than the run up in prices and rents.
First they slipped but only slightly.
http://www.socketsite.com/archives/2017/11/bay-area-home-sales-take-a-hit-down-over-30-percent-in-san-francisco.html
Now recovering. Unbelievably flatlining instead of Collapsing.
SF experienced that major collapse back about 10 years ago; they are just NOW coming back. We on the other hand…
Prices in SF are way past their old peak. Especially in the really good areas.
The boom is ongoing.
If you don’t mind a bit of crime, you might still find some deals.
The American Federal Reserve successfully re-inflated the housing bubble by crashing interest rates post-2008. SF is a part of this price action and will likely see another massive crash when rates rise again.
SF and now Seattle suffer from a double whammy, tech + locusts. Double locust whammies as they both devour everything they see. Every space, every job, every one.
I’m sorry. You are incorrect. With the greatest collapse in prices, central SF corrected only 10% or less. Flatlined until about 2011. And then skyrocketed partially due to the rebound in tech jobs; partially from global investment.
SF has a trillion dollars in companies at least.
Vancouver has really good Pho.
Not comparable.
Have we scapegoated Mayor Gregor Robertson on housing? (Another great piece by D. Todd, he is on a roll!)
http://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/have-we-skapegoated-mayor-gregor-robertson-on-housing
Following Robertson’s announcement Wednesday that he would not seek another term in office, Globe columnist Gary Mason also said Robertson “would have gone into the next civic vote dogged by the one issue that will cast a long and ominous shadow over his record: housing.”
There’s some truth to these criticisms. But sometimes I think the public, and the media, put too much of a spotlight on the mayor of Vancouver. Why have we let so many other municipal politicians off the hook?
With his high profile and longevity in office, Robertson has come to symbolize political inaction on housing, as well as denialism — including with his 2015 accusation that an Andy Yan study about foreign capital had “racist tones.” (That red herring echoed the tactics of real-estate industry officials.)
But despite his lack of overall effectiveness, Robertson, and Vision, have probably done more to at least try to address the housing issue than most municipal politicians in Metro Vancouver. There is a great deal of blame to go around.
10 years of Gregor and Vision…..kissing developers asses thus catering to HAM…or vice versa…
Rezoning REAL job creating commercial areas, killing off small business…in essence leading the charge in the conversion of Metro Vancouver into the world’s largest Potemkin Village.
IMHO, Vision had golden opportunity but blew it= they will go down as the architects of this disaster by virtue of this.
F*ck em…..
Men like Robertson are why the white race is dying.
I’m not aware of any substantial remarks about the contribution of foreign capital to the local housing crisis from Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan, Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart or Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner, to name a few influential politicians.
This is not to mention the silence coming from most of the more than 100 city councillors throughout Metro Vancouver — with rare exceptions, such as Richmond’s Harold Steves and West Vancouver’s Craig Cameron and Mary-Ann Booth.
Steves is a FRAUD…..a hypocrite…needs to be EXPOSED.
..shows how stupid and f*cking gullible the General Public is with ” Their hero….Mr . ALR”
The ALR is a SCAM and a major reason we are in this affordable housing mess.
The ALR has nothing to do with Food Security…it is a LAND BANK…PERIOD
This post is a call to readers to direct me and the rest of us to any comments that municipal politicians have made over the past few years that reveal they were clearly taking a stand for local residents over foreign capital.
(For now I’m focussing on the public record of municipal politicians, not provincial or federal ones, even though they have much more power in regards to housing and related policy. The federal Liberals under Justin Trudeau have been lacklustre on housing, to say the least. The B.C. Liberals were a disaster, and the jury is out on the B.C. NDP.)
All in all, Robertson was not unique among local politicians in downplaying the dangers of foreign capital in his earlier years in office. In Hong Kong in 2013 he said wealthy Chinese were not helping drive up prices in Vancouver.
He began to speak out by 2015, when he asked former premier Christy Clark to do something about “unwarranted speculation” by “the world’s wealthiest citizens” in Vancouver real estate. In response Clark threw cold water on the mayor’s plea to curb offshore speculation, suggesting it wasn’t significant.
Robertson also boldly acknowledged the problem to The Sun’s Dan Fumano in November when he said foreign capital had hit the city of Vancouver “like a ton of bricks.”
“he began to speak out by 2015″…wasn’t that a short time after he sold him home and started renting? hmmmm
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it”, so said Upton Sinclair. Many regular folk, for one reason or many, are not well informed. But that the Mayor of Vancouver and the Premier of BC did not understand the role of foreign investment in driving up Vancouver’s RE market is absurd, and is accounted for by either idiocy or mendacity, take your pick – I choose mendacity as neither is sufficiently stupid for the former.
We in Metro Vancouver have had 30 + years of undeniable irrefutable A$IAN investment……and furthermore without question the main driver of prices.
Are we to ad -nauseum tolerate a litany of politicians past, present and future who will refute the obvious ?
Its a simple case of cause and effect.
Any solution starts with admitting the obvious.
Politicians won’t refute Asian investment because they want it. They know we wouldn’t have the economic growth without it, but we would have a nicer city.
We’d still have economic growth, a much better kind because we’d be focusing on developing a real economy rather than lazily depending on vermin from china to pump up the scummy real estate industry.
True. The system would be more stable, and would generate genuine economic well-being for people who go to work on Monday mornings.
Something that cannot be said of the current state of affairs.
You can get two decent jobs and still struggle. While rich Chinese families keep accumulating land and homes.
That’s why the NDP and VISION are doomed to fail.
They will not admit the obvious..but simply be in denial as they kick the can down the road.
Most of their measures are simply palliative. …the patient is terminal…..”cures” such as foreign buyers tax and vacancy tax were designed to fail and maintain the status quo. They have run out of ideas and the general public has lost its patience. Not saying NDP and VISION is to blame for the mess per se….but they are simply taking up space in their traditional role as protest vote option “while Rome burns”.
Lets be BLUNT…..we are D-O-N-E in the big picture…only the smart will survive when, not if, SHTF….time to decide one’s position moving forward.
“Without question” except by the reliably-sourced data which refutes it, of course.
You should read what the people at Stats Canada have been saying about their recently released data. Perhaps you might finally understand something useful.
None of it agrees with you or radically changes the overall interpretation of the data. Stop being so dishonest.
They cant do much, there is a gang of Hedonic women standing behind them stripping mortgages into Helocs. Hell bent on getting fertiluty rates to Zero, and moving the immigration rates to Fascist economy nirvana.
Your points are not unfounded. We hardly ever mention on this blog the role of dual income families in escalating residential RE prices. A highly remarkable social change has occurred over only 50 years – the migration of women into paid employment, thus bolstering economic output, while divorcing them from motherhood (and most of their male consorts at the same time).
We have talked a bit about gender in the housing punch, but it’s not a favorite flavour around here. Denial. And right up their with Velocity of Refinancing. Heloc addiction gets fair play tho.
Buying a House is an Emotional driven response. Emotion is a quality that women have over men.
BF Skinner type behavioural science has much to do with nose bleed house prices because, well, women just gotta have a fuken house. Watch what happens when they dump the house and move en masse into CamperVans.
See Aaron Russo’s YOUTUBE video
He got to be chummy with Jay Rockefeller, who asked Russo what he thought the Women’s movement was about..
Russo replied equality…and Rockefeller stated he was an idiot…it was all about getting women out of the home(destroy family) so they could also be taxed…aka 2 incomes = more tax.
In theory , a mortgage could have been paid down faster, but the opposite occurred…prices shot up…..inflation out of control….all by design.
Good post +1
The chicks went wild and soceity couldnt create enough bullshit jobs for them to keep Jay happy.
So they created Housing as Currency to truly wreck havoc on those bad old men.
Vengeance is Mine, they cried!! Now look at me on my Caribbean holiday with a thong up my crack!
White genocide is looking for new members.
Please go away
“The ‘everything bubble’ could pop in 2018”, news.com.aus http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/the-everything-bubble-could-pop-in-2018/news-story/9a856139ff80a0a678c6c6fc2b98d2b4 “All around the world assets have been rising with a beautiful synchronicity. The US stock markets are booming. Meanwhile, Australia has seen east coast house prices go crazy. We are not alone. A simple home can cost well over a million dollars now in cities across New Zealand, Canada, Sweden and San Francisco. The global bond market is worth around $80 trillion, 10 times more than all the land and buildings in Australia put together.” “The problem with loose monetary policy is that while it is supposed to make people do productive things like start a new company, it has a side effect of making them buy assets at crazy prices. If the everything bubble pops, it may turn out that the cure for the global financial crisis is what caused… Read more »
WOW!! 5 Toronto Condo projects on sale … in Hong Kong!
Who are we really building supply for? Not for Canadians!
Cheaper to place a few ads than hiring “sister actors” pretending to buy Vancouver condo units, paying for people to line up at pre-sales or to hire a helicopter to fly phony “investors” around White Rock like they have done here.
When are you going to wake up to RE industry tricks that are designed to spook locals into buying?
Rich Russians needing an exit strategy turn to Malta, where citizenship is for sale
With more western sanctions on horizon, Russian investors seek haven for families and a place for their money
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russians-malta-oligarchs-rich-citizenship-1.4483144
It is a global phenomenon. Societies have to stop this.
“Hedging risk
“They would like to find a quiet haven for their families and relatives, and buying a second passport is a chance to hedge their personal risk,” said Ilya Shumanov, the Russian head of Transparency International, a European group that tracks the international flow of capital.”
Sounds familiar?
Instead of making their own country better, they run away.
Exactly….
They exploit their homeland then run away….Then we let them in to buy up our once sovereign nation.
This was the disaster in the making after Expo 86….they allowed the first wave of HAM to buy up property as opposed to what allegedly was the plan of creating jobs via other investments.
Actually I think you would be quite happy in the Russia of 30 years ago. The state would provide you a home and evil sprculators would be barred.
“Sounds familiar?”
Not really. Malta charges $1.2M as a cash payment for citizenship. In Canada it is pretty much free. Even with the investor immigrant program it was only a 5 year interest free loan to the government. That is equivalent to charging about 1% to 2% of what Malta is charging.
Russians are awesome people. We need more of them in Canada. We should look into swapping our Gays in the Service, replace them with Russians. They are really good at manipulation and goofing around, and can show the tired Service a trick or two. The Americans did it wh ith the NSA, bringing in the Propaganda Experts to consult. Why is our Gay servants so worried about Russians? Is it because they breed?
WTF?
It’s called fighting fire with fire. It’s time to call out the Queers collecting Snivel Service paychecks. THEY are compromised.
Admin must be real proud of this cesspool he created.
Don’t like it? Fuck off and leave.
But no, you never leave just like whoracle.
You just bitch and moan but keep hanging around being a prick to everyone.
What an asshole.
The alpha douchebag is playing there victim? Incredible.
It would be great to see you go, finally. You add no real content to the discussion. Your time is spent accusing most other posters of racism.
Contribute something for once, you might feel like a better person.
Does defending racists make you feel like the better person?
history please go to the many white genocide sites. Your posts are mostly non-sensical and provide nothing to the site.
Don’t pick on homeless people,SIDA. We don’t like that in our country.
The BC housing affordability fund.
Everyone with an interest in housing affordability in B.C. — which is to say, quite a few people — is keenly awaiting next month’s provincial budget.
Last year, dozens of Vancouver economists threw support behind variations of a proposal to dramatically increase property taxes, but exempt owners who pay income tax in Canada (or those, such as the retired, who have paid in the past). UBC economists say such a tax would generate tens of millions in revenue to benefit people who live in B.C. at the expense of wealthy offshore investors. For one example of a B.C. homeowner who’d pay more tax under such a system, consider the case of Guoqing Fu, covered by Vancouver Sun legal columnist Ian Mulgrew this week. Fu and his family landed in B.C. Supreme Court because of a dispute involving three Vancouver houses they purchased, worth a combined $8 million. According to Justice Susan Griffin’s judgment last week, Fu reported to Canadian authorities on his Canadian income tax return… Read more »
His “minuscule” reported worldwide income, Griffin said, was “an incredible assertion given the fact he owns one of the top 10 textile manufacturing and distribution companies based in one of the biggest textile manufacturing centres of China.”
This week, when Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson announced his current term would be his last, Yan commented the housing crisis had sunk its second government, after last year’s B.C. Liberals were seen as slow to respond to a housing crisis.
It may not be a coincidence that some of the urban and suburban ridings hardest hit by the housing crisis swung to the NDP last year. If just a couple more Metro Vancouver ridings went in the Liberals’ favour, the NDP would have never had a chance of forming a government.
The B.C. NDP supported the property surtax on the campaign trail last year, promising a two per cent surcharge for property owners who don’t pay tax in Canada on global incomes.
Next month’s budget is a chance to see if the NDP’s big talk on housing is matched with big moves.
Rally against proposed Coyote Creek development planned in Surrey:
http://www.news1130.com/2018/01/13/rally-proposed-coyote-creek-development-planned-surrey/
>>> more NIMBYism
If you had a house that overlooked a golf course which was going to be converted to townhouses I think you would complain too.
Golf courses are a waste of prime land that could be used for housing. And anyways the golf course here is old and not used too much anymore and it’s not moving, just getting smaller. These people and you should just STFU.
Actually I am not opposed to it. I am more than happy to see more townhouses go in. Just saying most people who live next to a golf course are going to freak out if they convert it to housing. You sound like a fool.
Re: Golf…..
The irony is that GOLF may suffer from decline in interest, much of it due to the cost and that younger generations have other interests.
This will be a major parameter for the economy…bet on it.
Says who? In a capitalist free society people are free to use land as they see fit. If zoning allows for a golf course, someone is allowed to build it. Not every inch of land should be used for housing.
Full disclourse – I HATE golf!
Vaughn Palmer: Horgan preaches pragmatism after favourable Site C poll
“Site C: By a margin of two to one, B.C. residents say province made the right call to finish dam project,” as the headline on a release from the Angus Reid Institute put it Friday
What does this have to do with housing? Horgan has shown he’s willing to tell the ideologues and other usual suspects to take a hike. I think anyone expecting to see a “politically correct” approach to housing in the budget will be disappointed.
Sniveller Service can be reduced 50% and we wouldnt miss them. Start with Health care and Education dept. Bullshit jobs roost here.
But we wont see this because its a WELFARE program for these people who invariably have Heloc their existence.
They need FASCIST politics to contine the game, including MegaProjects like SiteC, that is a funnel for Immigration ponzi scams.
Site C is a Wildly successful program to date, because of the Massive cost increase that have gone into Fascist pockets.
What exactly is a “politically correct” approach to housing?
Oh, stuff like “playing the race card” and getting rid of the FBT, and only building housing for the homeless and the poor. Heard anyone say they expect that?
In other words you are predicting the NDP are going to break all their election promises on housing and not do anything to address it in the budget. You must be a partisan Liberal to make such a prediction.
‘By a margin of two to one, B.C. residents say province made the right call to finish dam project”
Not sure that poll will help the NDP with actual votes. Of the 1/3 that does not agree with the decision how many voted NDP and will now switch to Green next election? Lots. Of the 2/3 that agree and did not vote NDP I doubt any of them are going to flip to the NDP because of this.
How much money did the NDP waste studying Site C to end up simply doing what the public (and the Liberals) wanted?
If the public was so big on having Site C proceed without evaluation, I think they would have given the Liberals more than 40% of the vote.
I’m still trying to come to grips with the notion that Haiti and most African countries are shitholes.
Could this possibly be true?
Possibly…..
…Was Dianne Watt their mayor ?
They are objectively shitholes. But the President of America doesn’t need to blurt it out in official meetings like someone with Tourettes. Trump is a colossal buffoon and is irreparably damaging the status of the Presidency with his low-class, childish behavior. He is also a walking illustration of how broken America’s political system is. People can bash Trudeau all they like, but he knows what diplomacy means; I’m not even sure Trump can spell “diplomacy”.
So you’re saying that Trump should be fake like all other politicians and not tell the truth.
By the way, this was a private meeting where some asshole democrat went crying to the media.
It wasn’t an official statement.
Being honest and impolite are two different things. He could have easily been honest but polite by saying “We want to place more emphasis on getting immigrants from wealthier nations to come to America.” , or “Immigrants from poor nations cost the American taxpayer too much money, and we want to put a stop to it.” . Instead he decided to be an asshole, just like he always is, and resorted to petty name-calling. He’s the least equipped to be President of any President before him and it shows in his complete lack of tact or diplomacy. It’s a national embarrassment.
The unemployable bigots are feeling empowered, unfortunately.
You only have to look at the lame Puerto Rico response to see what he really thinks.
Puerto Rico is another shithole, it was a disaster long before the hurricane and wasn’t worth saving.
And what kind of retard call everyone they disagree with as “unemployable”?
What the fuck do you know about anyone’s employability or employment status? You’re obsessed with this particular childish insult.
“This guy is unemployable, that guy is unemployable”.
What an asshole you are.
Traitor!
“By the way, this was a private meeting where some asshole democrat went crying to the media.”
On the other hand we have the other presidential candidate calling half of American voters deplorable in a public speech and all is good. As long as it is mostly white people you insult no problem.
“calling half of American voters deplorable”
Half of Republican voters actually, which is less than a quarter of all voters.
Good point. And Trump only called a few countries shitholes so both are irrelevant.
That would really suck if some of these shithole countries were the like of former Eastern Bloc countries in the late 80’s…then the media wouldn’t get to use their favourite word ‘racist’..what would they do without that word??
The president of the day, Ronald Reagan, did not use offensive language to describe the East Bloc countries or their people, making it clear that the enemy was the Communist system. He was also an advocate of freer immigration from those countries to the US. As well he approved a general amnesty for illegal immigrants to the US, mostly from Latin America.
You have no idea what Reagan said in private meetings, which is what this was until some lowlife democrat went crying to the media.
This is really the difference. In the past nobody ran to the press trying to make the president look bad on style in private. They actually debated policy. The democrats have no ideas so trash politics is all they have. Didn’t work for Hillary. You would think they would have learned.
You’ll appreciate this.
https://www.city-journal.org/html/crudeness-and-truth-15668.html
Nothing scandalizes a leftist like the truth. Point out that women and men are different, that black Americans commit a disproportionate amount of violent crime, that most terrorist acts are committed by Muslims, and the Left leaps to its collective feet in openmouthed shock, like Margaret Dumont after a Groucho Marx wisecrack. This is racism! This is sexism! This is some sort of phobia! I’m shocked, shocked to find facts being spoken in polite company!
No one is really shocked, of course. This is simply a form of bullying. The Left has co-opted our good manners and our good will in order to silence our opposition to their bad policies. The idea is to make it seem impolite and immoral to mention the obvious.
So true. The left and sinoman are enemies of truth.
“You have no idea what Reagan said in private meetings”
Well that’s kind of the point isn’t it. He had enough sense to understand that no meeting with members of the other party can be considered private.
No, the point is that even politicians used to have at least a tiny bit of decency but that is completely gone now, these hyper-partisan whores have absolutely none.
The democrats have even surpassed the republicans in vileness, something I never thought I’d see happen. That shithead Obama didn’t retire and neither did Hillary, they’re both lurking in the shadows pulling strings and causing as much trouble as they can because they’d rather bring down the US than let a Trump presidency succeed.
So a closed door meeting results in whiny bitch Durbin squealing to WaPo about what Trump said, like a little kindergartener.
The left has morphed into something truly evil.
Even Bush speaks out against Trump, dumbass.
It’s also hilarious that you think you hold the moral high ground. You’re an irrelevant bigot.
Of course he does, Bush is part of the globalist trash which includes both parties.
He’s also the guy who lied about WMD, illegally invaded Iraq, murdered millions of people and destroyed the country.
He’s a fucking loser who you hold up as some sort of decent person while bleating about “moral high ground” which you know nothing about, race-baiter.
What a fucking asshole.
“Even Bush speaks out against Trump,”
I wonder why? Could it have something to do with Trump humiliating Jeb in the primaries? Jeb would probably be president right now if not for Trump.
“How dare this uncouth, loud-mouthed usurper get in the way of my brothers coronation!”
The anger was identical from Bill the rapist on the other side.
Clintons, Bushes….scum, all of them. These sellouts all deserve to hang.
“Vancouver’s housing crisis priced Gregor Robertson out of bidding for mayor” – Gary Mason – Globe and Mail – Jan 11 2017
“…This was his city, after all. He was the one who, in the opinion of many, was far too cozy with developers. He was the one who, initially anyway, resented any suggestion that it was offshore Chinese buyers who were bidding up the cost of homes and creating an upward-spiral effect on prices across the region. When he lamented in a speech that the city was in danger of losing its soul, those listening couldn’t help but shake their heads in disbelief….”
😉
Anyone who thinks ANY politician is not beholden to developers is very VERY naive.
Glegol’s red herring was bike lanes and shipping containers…either way the city was gutted and hollowed out.
COV= It’s done…over..toast….point of no return for locals(not locusts).
…….Leftards wasted 10 years of displaced hope on VISION and this Justin Trudeau doppelganger.
Toronto-area mall one of world’s most notorious sources of counterfeit goods: U.S.
MARKHAM, Ont. – A U.S. government report says a Toronto-area mall is among the most notorious sources of pirated and counterfeit goods in the world. Pacific Mall, a predominantly Chinese-Canadian shopping centre in Markham, Ont., is one of 18 brick-and-mortar locations and 25 online retailers named by the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative in its annual review of so-called “notorious markets.”
>>> so it takes the USA to call us out about the chineeze immigrants who are once again behaving badly in their host country. The locust invasion is a disgrace to Canada and should be stopped now.
For terms of reference..
I may be wrong…(probability= highly unlikely)
…….this ad nauseum “cultural identifier” may have been subliminally exposed in a Monty Python skit while on PBS.
4-D glasses may be req’d.
if not……. then certainly via Benny Hill via Mr. Chow Mein skit !
Pacific Mall and counterfeiting…..?
😀
As someone who used to live down the street from Pacific Mall, believe me – that’s not news…..
You’re saying Chinese make more counterfeit goods than other cultures? Unbelievable……
I never checked out the perfume products, but every DVD for sale there was bootleg… right out in the open. Not even hidden behind the counter like most scofflaws…..
😉
They got raided regularly by the cops, but the next day the inventory was back out for sale….cost of doing business.
😀
New
94
Price Change
27
Sold
54
TI:6903
My wife works a at higher end dt Vancouver restaurant last 10yrs…. never before has she been called to stay home due to lack of business, today was the 3 rd day this month she got the call, things are dead out there. People are tapped out . Rates on the rise will hurt many
They were tapped out after 2008, now we’re hitting the point where the banks aren’t going to lend them anymore money. Everyone will soon learn it’s a systemic risk having a historically elevated percentage of GDP in housing. When the credit market turns rotten, unemployment will be through the roof. The BoC is going to crap themselves when a deflationary spiral starts to kick in.
It’s the end of the world all over again to the naysayers. Go hide!
Hiding is the last thing people should be doing right now. Paying down debt, locking in interest rates or moving debt to lower rate accounts would be a good start. Reducing real estate as a percentage of your investments would be another good idea. Finally, if you’re still in the work-force in banking, construction, or real estate sales: explore your other career options now while you still have a job. Don’t bury your head in the sand; the best hedge against a housing crash is getting your finances in order ahead of time.
It’s never a bad idea to improve your skillset no matter what industry you are in. Expand your knowledge by taking online courses at places like Coursera and Udemy.
How have your predictions done so far Doom?
Paying down debt is the wrong strategy if you believe in inflation and rising rates. DUH.
It must be a tough time running a restaurant in Vancouver in 2018. Customers are tapped out. It’s hard to find good people to work for you because the City is expensive to live in. Property taxes are going through the roof. Seems like a terrible business to be in right now.
Keg in Burnaby was packed when I was there last week.
New Years Eve?
Living the dream at the Burnaby Keg.
Again, putting people down for what?
Because they had dinner at the Keg?
What a fucking asshole you are, you should take a long, hard look at yourself in the mirror and figure out how you became such a dirtbag.
This is what the left has become in a few short years.
SIDA hates Keg cause no dog meat on the menu.
Resturants are full
Weird that tourists would need to eat somewhere.