No, I cannot believe it. I thought that people who said such things were just a bunch of racist.

WHEN reports surfaced in 2016 of foreign students with no known income buying homes worth millions of dollars in Vancouver, locals said it was yet more evidence that foreigners were inflating prices in Canada’s dearest property market. It was also evidence of a home-grown problem. The students turned out to be figureheads for anonymous firms whose ultimate owners cannot be identified because the information is not legally required by the land registry. Canadian authorities are concerned about the abuses caused by such opacity. The property market may well be attracting foreign criminals and corrupt officials seeking to launder dirty money.

Canada’s existing money-laundering and terrorist-financing legislation also contains a gaping hole: lawyers are not covered, because they successfully argued in court that turning over such information violated solicitor-client privilege. One Ontario lawyer bragged to a police undercover agent in 2002 that this victory meant it was 20 times safer for a lawyer to launder money in Canada than in the United States—not the sort of contrast that the Great White North relishes.

RE Bubble Tea’s link… VCI POSTERS are doing good work adding to the steaming-stinking evidentiary pile. The article duly notes how LAWYERS have literal immunity from transparency via solicitor/client privilege, which simply fosters abuse that might not otherwise occur….hence exacerbates the problem. Again..if this “chokepoint” was identified..why didn’t the Gov’t address it accordingly..hence who actually runs the Gov’t and for who???? IMHO, Canadian Gov’t waived the “white” flag back in the late 1970’s/ early 1980’s, when they tried to juice the economy and had to jump in(master plan?) with 20+ % interest rates. (********NOTE: I don’t think people appreciate the damage done which still resonates today. CANADA is effectively nothing on the World Stage, it has been exposed as a dysfunctional quasi- communist nation held together by band- aids on brink of collapse.****) After that,Canada was subject to an economy… Read more »

It would be great. But I have seen that kind of graph so many times in the past 10 years that I urge caution in calling the top.
I will call the top when there is evidence that Chinese buyers start retreating. Until then, I will reserve judgment.

Another good scoop: Keep in mind the Federal Reserve was created in 1913…the Great Depression 16 years later. The Depression was created by design, literally to the minute. Churchill witnessed this at NYSE. Perhaps the reason that credit on RE is being reigned in is to “funnel” people into one of the last options…the Stock Market. The graph you show re RE was discussed by vlogger” FORMAFIST ‘and the Bull Trap..which seems to apply to almost any market…a peak followed by a downward trend..which some “suckers”will confuse as a bottoming- out buying opportunity. In fact all they have done is delay natural forces and then a bigger collapse results. The overall graphs show a lot of bisected symmetry, ie if it took “X” years to rise..the collapse is of similar duration. Unlike the collapse of 2008 which appears to be… Read more »

All that, plus the guy never accounted for his rental income. They are cheats all the way.

Almost $1.3 million transferred illegally and leveraged into $8.3 million in real estate speculation. There is the problem in Vancouver right there.

[545] This case involved two wealthy families from China transferring millions of dollars to Canada, and purchasing three properties in Vancouver. The two families thought it best to not document the basis for their dealings with each other. The two families also thought it best to structure the transactions in ways that disguised true ownership, just as they often did when buying properties in China.

And I know many former NDP supporters who are going to vote no in the referendum.

The thought of NDP- Green alliance now sickens them. Weaver had all the power in the world to get things done. But he is playing games by saying he can’t do anything.

Fucking renogotiate the confidence and supply agreement. Nows his chance. Fucking liar as well.

Time for Liberals unfortunately again.

Fascist goat fuk and inbred family sawdust eater. Economic profiler of commons rapist. Shit stained useless provider of valuless information and energy

But Canadian governments remain clueless. Last month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation claimed misleadingly that “non-residents” own a small portion of housing – a mere 3.4 percent in Toronto and 4.8 percent in Vancouver.

That statement underscores the incompetence of the country and its principal lender.

Ownership is hidden in Canada because the country is a giant secrecy haven where anyone from anywhere can, and does, buy properties through offshore shell companies, nominee shareholders, trusts, or law firm fronts. The only glimpse into the scale of foreign speculation abuse was an analysis in 2015 by anti-corruption organization, Transparency International, of Vancouver’s 100 most valuable property deals: Nearly 50 per cent of ownerships were hidden through shell companies, nominees and trusts.

This flood of hidden dirty money from offshore is widespread so how can a federal government agency state that foreign ownership is minuscule? Worse, how many billions has the CMHC loaned to “owners” hiding behind fronts that are not entitled to mortgages subsidized by Canadian taxpayers?

Secrecy facilitates money laundering and has contributed mostly to excessive real estate prices and the fact that Canadian consumer debt is the highest in the world, representing a grave economic risk.

Canada is a hot money haven because cash deposits or questionable wire transfers — that cannot be deposited into banks without verifying the source of funds – flow through real estate brokers, developers, and law firms then are deposited into banks for payment.

An example surfaced last May, after a prolonged probe by the Law Society of British Columbia, when a West Vancouver lawyer was found guilty of professional misconduct for allowing $26 million from unknown sources to flow through his trust account even though he did no legal work to earn the money. He was a conduit — like thousands of lawyers, notaries, proxies, and real estate professionals — for helping hide illegal proceeds and money looted from elsewhere into real estate or illicit payments.

Lawyers in Australia, Britain, and Europe are now required to determine and disclose the beneficial ownership of any client and provide that information on demand to tax authorities or law enforcement officials.

Last year, the world’s watchdog into money laundering and terrorist financing — the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) launched by the G7 and United Nations – gave Canada a failing grade because of its legal and real estate loopholes.

“Requirements [in Canada] are inoperative toward legal counsels, legal firms and Quebec notaries,” said the FATF report. “In light of these professionals’ key gatekeeper role, in particular in high-risk sectors and activities such as real-estate transactions and the formation of corporations and trusts, this constitutes a serious impediment to Canada’s efforts to fight money laundering (or terrorist financing).”

Canada must close loopholes, end secrecy, and ban foreign ownership of real estate.

It feels good to see that so many people realize the true impact of foreign money and warn against it.
The only deniers are those who profit from it. And a small pocket of confused individuals, who are apparently unwilling to recognize that earth is not flat.
Next step: serious policies to address this massive problem.

“One major part of the problem is that Canada is among a shrinking number of developed countries that don’t require that the “beneficial owners” of corporations be revealed. In other words, it is possible to establish a shell company in Canada without disclosing who exactly owns it.

And because many properties in Canada are owned by shell corporations, it’s impossible to say exactly how much Canadian real estate is in the hands of foreign owners, TI Canada says. The group estimated last year that the government has no idea who actually owns half of the priciest properties in Vancouver.”

“Only in Kenya and a select few U.S. states is it easier to set up an untraceable company than it is in Canada,” TI said at the time.

“In Canada, more rigorous identity checks are done for individuals getting library cards than for those setting up companies.”

McCarrell outlined weaknesses in the data released so far. He noted, for example, that a home owned by a shell company incorporated in Canada would count as Canadian-owned in StatsCan’s data, even if the owners were foreigners.

Anik Lacroix, an assistant director in StatsCan’s investment, science and technology division, says much more detailed data is on the way.

“It is early stages” for the agency’s efforts in building a comprehensive picture of foreign ownership of housing, she told HuffPost Canada this week.

“I know everybody wants us to produce everything all at once, but we are just taking it step by step,” she said.

The agency is going through a process of collecting the necessary data from governments and the private sector, and has to assess quality as well, Lacroix said.

In a release slated for this spring, StatsCan hopes to expand the picture of foreign ownership to include homeowner incomes and potentially mortgage data as well.

The agency also hopes to link home ownership data to census information, to create more detailed profiles of households. That would allow it, for example, to determine just how many foreign students are living in homes purchased by their parents — a phenomenon that seems to exist, to some extent, in Vancouver.

But Transparency International’s Cohen is not optimistic about the outcome of StatsCan’s efforts.

He says that while he’s “happy to see” that the agency recognizes the challenges it faces, StatsCan will not be able to find the information it needs to paint an accurate picture of foreign ownership; the data simply isn’t out there.

Cohen is urging policymakers to follow in the footsteps of other G20 countries, and pass legislation requiring the creation of registries where the beneficial owners of shell companies are made public. He noted that the European Union recently updated its money-laundering laws to require the registration of beneficial owners.

“As our partners move ahead, Canada is falling increasingly behind,” he said. And that poses a risk, Cohen said, because as other countries make it more difficult to hide wealth in real estate, it will make Canada a more attractive place for illicit cash.

“This was a wake up call for yet another Canadian agency that we don’t have full info on who owns what in Canada.”

Without legislative changes that increase transparency in ownership of companies, StatsCan “will be on a path to frustration,” Cohen said.

Good. She sounds like quite a twit.

In spite of what the pumpers here would like us to believe, you could do a lot worse than renting on the westside for a fraction of the cost of ownership.

Most wealthy are out of country in sunny climates in December. Wait for March.

The developers have threatened the NDP government that it will immediately stop building new units and make the rental crisis much worse. Lets see if anyone blinks.

There is no question so far the NDP have kept the status quo. So much for all that squeeling the NDP did about the Liberal policies they have kept since getting elected. Liberal voters are not coming over to the NDP no matter what the NDP does. It is like Kia copying a Mercedes. Mercedes buyers are not buying a Kia. I do think a lot of NDP voters will flip to Green. Especially after the Site C betrayal. Housing will be another factor. Greens are now a viable option. The NDP will get wiped out next election.

Exactly. They are hoping to get the Liberal homeowner vote. Renters who pay salaried income taxes are the sacrificial lamb.

good business for the local credit unions.

5 Yr cdn Bond yield nearly 2% today, slowly shes creeping up mortgage rates up up up

I was watching a documentary on history of Hong Kong…

One little tidbit that stood out was the Chinese “merchant ” class..this group was historically mistrusted.
Nothings changed ?!?

one would think that given all the shenanigans going on in Richmond with regard to money laundering, rampant tax evasion, “sketchy” land deals, shadow flipping, outlawed real estate firms and agent not to mention all the illegal blueberry farms, hotels, spas, massage parlours, casinos and fake store fronts operating as money refineries that it would be the obvious choice by the CRA for further review, but i for one am not holding my breath anything will happen in what should be obvious to everyone is the epicentre of everything that is wrong in this country

In certain neighbourhoods – like Chartwell and Ambleside – the percentage of “low income” families was between 25 and 33 per cent of all households. Gallivan said the CRA also has access to other sources of data, including notices of any electronic funds transfers of $10,000 or more going back to 2015.

Analysts look to see if there is a financial flow that warrants a closer examination, said Gallivan: “Is the person sending a lot of money offshore? Or bringing money into Canada?” And most important, is that consistent with what’s been officially reported?

If the answers don’t match up, the Canada Revenue Agency may begin an audit, which can include exchanging information with tax authorities in other countries, said Gallivan. “Some of these tax filers are sending us right to their lawyer,” he said.

oh yeah, and they are setting up review of agricultural land too.