It’s the end of another week and time for another open topic discussion thread- Friday free-for-all time!
So now that there’s a bit more visibility in the air, what are you seeing out there?
Post your thoughts, anecdotes and news links in the comments below and have an excellent weekend!
[…] It’s getting to be that time of the year again… the air is getting cooler, the leaves are starting to turn and the listing numbers are blooming. […]
New
498
Price Change
155
Sold
53
TI:12439
Never seen anything remotely close to a 10:1 ratio after Labour Day.
The range has been between 2:1 and 4:1
CMHC wants to give lenders access to applicants’ tax data so they cannot inflate declared income under new qualification rules
https://www.richmond-news.com/fight-against-mortgage-fraud-looks-to-cra-for-help-1.23420994
“ANATOMY OF A SCAM: HOW RICH CHINESE GAMED CANADIAN IMMIGRATION”
But, but… it is good for the economy (and multiculturalism).
“Xi claimed that his lengthy absences from Canada were due to a Chinese custom requiring him to mourn his mother’s death in her home village for three years. Pemberton was incredulous. “His own vague testimony is not sufficient to satisfy me that such a cultural obligation exists,” he said in his ruling.
The investor migrant spent 33 days in Canada in the five years preceding the ruling. Xi’s wife, two sons and six grandchildren are all Canadian citizens; he owns five properties in Canada, where some still live.”
“Li, her husband and their two sons immigrated to Canada on December 23, 2006 via Quebec’s Immigrant Investor Programme. Just 10 days later they returned to China, and for seven years only intermittently visited Canada. Sunny Wang gave Li a bogus job and fake documents fabricating presence in Canada. Sunley said Li “clings to the notion that she was unaware that New Can/Wellong was a scam [at minimum] and that her ‘employment’, as arranged by New Can/Wellong, was entirely a fiction.” It was only in 2014 that Li and the two boys moved to Canada to live, buying a West Vancouver home now valued at more than C$8million, and other Canadian properties that boosted the family’s net equity position to more than C$10 million. But in Canadian tax filings, Li claimed benefits based on her supposed status as a low-income… Read more »
“Wang was “vague and evasive” about her husband’s business activities and earnings in China. Sun continued to file taxes in Canada, but “it is unclear if he has reported his worldwide income as required”, said the ruling.
In 2015, Wang and Sun gave their eldest daughter, a student at the University of British Columbia, C$61,000 to buy a Mercedes-Benz. That year Sun’s entire worldwide income was reported as C$720 from Canada’s Universal Child Care Benefit.”
There is plenty more stories in this great article by Ian Young. It takes a brave ethnic-Chinese journalist to unveil such scams. Anyone else would be accused of racism. Such is Canada in 2018.
Kudos to Ian Young and to all the law abiding Canadian Chinese who have the guts to distance themselves and condemn these behaviours.
As usual, this is not about race. It is 100% about money.
This site is as dead as the market.
How about a new thread?
Metro Vancouver pre-sale condo market sees slowdown and flattening of prices
Downsizers, investors and first-time buyers are all showing less urgency when it comes to the once, fire-hot, pre-sale condo market.
Vancouver didn’t negotiate in good faith before expropriation attempt, Sahotas claim
Looks like word’s out in the South Asian communities…
https://www.omnitv.ca/bc/pa/videos/b-c-real-estate-update/
Best Punjabi language assessment of the real estate market I’ve heard in a long time.
AirBnB, Vancouver, and national TV news. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-unPDqPOXU
“Australia House Prices Fall for 11th Month as Downturn Deepens”
They also have whiny homeowners who feel they’re entitled to ultra cheap borrowing and now they’re angry.
“It makes everything tougher; I am a single mum with a daughter living at home who is at uni and I work long hours and it makes everything tighter,” she says.
“I will call them next week and say they need to show more loyalty to their customers.”
Sargeant had paid off her mortgage some time ago, which was with another lender, but eight months ago took out a new mortgage with Westpac to pay for renovations.
She doesn’t sound too smart. Probably blames foreigners.
Well we all know foreigners are directly to blame. After all.
If you’re looking for somebody to blame take a closer glance at all your idiot friends and family who bought in the last few years. Oh, right, nasty foreigners made them enter into that bidding war. The scoundrels.
Fuck off AIDS, douchebag.
She’s still smarter than you as is the strawman you just produced.
You’re totally right – the bank will give her a break on that debt out of love, and I’m sure she takes full responsibility for it either way.
Anyone who thinks they’re so much smarter than everyone else, who constantly insults the intelligence of everyone they disagree with, and who is universally despised by everyone is the most worthless piece of shit on earth.
That’s you 🙂
Scumbag.
I only insult toxic racists. I’m more than happy to disagree with them too.
Expect more bleating from people who think the banks owe them a favour as interest rates rise. Life’s just not fair, eh?
They cut immigration numbers. That’s why.
“Since 2016, the share of new condominiums sold to foreign buyers reached 16 per cent across Metro Vancouver and accounts for about one-quarter of buyers in Richmond and Coquitlam, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.”
so this states we have 16% foreign buyers across Metro and 25% foreign buyers in in Richmond and Coquitlam. MUCH higher than the 5% or less touted on here by some of the vested interests …
“so this states we have 16% foreign buyers across Metro and 25% foreign buyers in in Richmond and Coquitlam. ”
As the article states, those are figures for buyers of condo pre-sales only. Pre-sales don’t get recorded as foreign sales at the time they are made because they are not a sale of a titled property. If the pre-sale has not been sold to a local and is still in the hands of the foreign buyer at closing time, the purchase is then is recorded as a foreign sale.
There is no contradiction in the statistics.
How many times do the numbers need to be presented to you Foreign Buyer deniers? A pre-sale is still a sale and if you want to continue to dodge the facts and split hairs about “titled sales” then go ahead but the numbers say otherwise. And in fact pre-sale speculation is what’s driving up the prices of condos so you should be arguing that this is actually even WORSE for the end consumer rather than minimizing it.
“There is no contradiction in the statistics.”
There are lies, damn lies, and statistics… but the real numbers don’t lie.
” if you want to continue to dodge the facts”
Who’s dodging the facts? The fact is that the number of condo pre-sales is very small compared to the total number of property sales in metro Vancouver, thus there is no reason to complain about the reported foreign % of the first not being close to the reported foreign % of the second.
Foreign Buyer deniers can dance around the figures all they want, but the numbers are the numbers so I can’t really understand why it’s a problem to believe them.
Ralph clearly has no fucking idea what to do with these numbers. It’s the second time he’s presented them and the second time he’s been corrected. He’s either stupid or dishonest, but potentially both.
Yes dufus the second time from two different articles and you still can’t get it through your thick head. Stick your head up your ass or not but it doesn’t change the fact that FB are a big influence. FBT is introduced and the foreign asian buyers disappear. That’s no coincidence.
Fuckwit, you’ve cherry-picked the sub-segment of the market with the highest proportion of foreign buyers and are now trying to insist that it’s somehow representative of the whole.
Once again, the stats you keep failing to understand relate to: 1. New builds only 2. Condos only 3. Richmond and Vancouver only (add Coquitlam if it makes you feel better).
Back to school with you. Or maybe it will be the first time.
It’s what the numbers say, not what I say or you say. Just ignore the obvious then. Idiot.
It’s your interpretation of them which is the problem. You’re deliberately conflating new units with resale units. The fact that you continue to do so after this has been pointed out to you multiple times makes you a liar.
So what you say is not what the numbers say. And the gap isn’t exactly small.
@ Ralph
Patriotz doesn’t even live here from what he/she has said here to the best of my knowlege, and who knows about where the others are located. It’s the local people who actually have to try to live here and find affordable shelter that are suffering. Foreign buyers of all types of housing should be banned. Foreign students and the like can easily rent while they are here.
Right, the fact that patriotz doesn’t live here means he’s not able to point out when others misrepresent the stats. Incidentally, it’s the same stats that say that foreigners aren’t what’s standing between locals and affordable housing.
‘We could have big social chaos’: China races to corral deadly outbreak of African swine fever before it spreads
The budding epidemic could endanger the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of hog farmers and jeopardize China’s enormous pork industry. There are about 700 million pigs in China, half the world’s pig population. Pork is the country’s primary protein source.
If China cannot quickly contain the virus, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization warned that it could jump to the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, creating a continent-wide crisis.
“There are about 700 million pigs in China”
There is more than that.
They may have to deploy their strategic pork reserve.
Trudeau orders his new gang-busting minister to target money laundering in B.C. in move following criticism region is becoming a dirty money destination
The federal government wants to stop money laundering in B.C. and is asking one of its ministers to focus on shutting it down. In his most recent mandate letters to federal ministers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked Bill Blair, minister of border security and organized crime reduction, to focus on ending money laundering in B.C., a move likely in response to international criticism and scathing reports that the region is becoming a dirty money destination for Asia, Russia and other countries. In one case, criminals even created a “Vancouver model” to launder money from China using casinos.
Where’s Eby? I want to thank him for prodding the boy in Ottawa into doing something about this problem.
The question is what do they consider money laundering. If it is just the few million of casino money pretty insignificant compared to the multi billion real estate industry. I doubt they will be looking at all that cash that gets transferred directly from China. Under Canadian law that is not illegal.
Waiting in great anticipation for the day we all discover that the Trump family has been making it possible for criminals to launder money through Vancouver’s housing market.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OicHShpOscI
Can someone help me find the address of this illegal hotel? : https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/18450192
It seems that this one went through the cracks of CoV’s “crackdown” on illegal airbnbs.
I see number 47 address in the picture but no street name.
47 West 14th Ave.
Not illegal because it is supposedly a principal residence. But if you look at the calendar they are renting it out all year.
We are a family of four, with two small children. We have a summer cabin on a lake outside of Vancouver which we go to regularly. This leaves our home empty often so we offer it here for those guests who want to stay in a family home in Vancouver’s best neighbourhood.
Someone should ask this family where their kids attend school. If they go to a school in the catchment of their ‘cabin’, then they are just a bunch of fraudster trying to make money by ignoring both spirit and letter of the law.
There must be hundreds of such families in Vancouver. This scam should not be allowed.
If ProRep is passed and NDP and Greens manage to rule together, I’m hearing that the NDP will not allow further housing policy to go through as they would vote with the Liberals on it.
If this is true, what benefit is ProRep? Libs and NDP will nix any future housing policy changes forever.
The only benefit I see is a new party comes in and takes 5% of the vote.
Comments!?
You’re a moron.
That’s what MY sources tell me.
Source confirmed. Oracle is a Real Estate Mole.
Could our PM be anymore hapless and over his head?
Transmountain and NAFTA have doomed Canada. His Sunny Ways and lack of good advisors will ensure he goes down as one of the worst PM’s ever.
Serves all you who voted for a drama teacher who has never had to earn a penny in his life.
I didn’t vote for the ass grabber or his party.
It’s like the Cons said:
Trudeau he’s just not ready.
PC slogan next election:
“Justin Trudeau: He’s STILL not ready”.
I think it would actually work because it will resonate with pretty much every voter.
“one of the worst PM’s ever”
He already was the worst PM ever in the bag.
Worst in my lifetime for sure. I can’t speak to any before my time because they’re meaningless to me.
I hear John A. MacDonald was so bad, they’re ripping down his statues.
New
127
Price Change
79
Sold
71
TI:12510
August sales didn’t quite hit 2000. According to Paul’s data they came in at 1999. REBGV will vary slightly.
2017 – 3152
2016 – 2625
2015 – dog ate my data, but it was way, way more than 1999, prolly like…double.
2014 – 2818
2013 – 2574
2012 – 1689
2011 – 2420
Looks we we are about 20% below average of the last 6 years. Considering this year interest rates have been going up, not down pretty insignificant.
I can’t make heads or tails of the last 4 words of your post, but if you are referring to price drops then they are just getting underway.
I am referring to interest rates. In previous years they were dropping. This past year they have been going up. Taking that into consideration a 20% reduction in sales is insignificant.
On prices they are up 15% over the past year. Let us know when we are back to the price level when the NDP took power. That is the starting point for price drops. Looks like most RE still selling for above assessed.
Chinese spies using fake LinkedIn accounts to connect with U.S. gov’t workers: spy chief
https://globalnews.ca/news/4422135/chinese-spies-linkedin/
those wacky chinese are at it again …
The McAdam file: Bribery, Chinese gangsters and betrayal
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-mcadam-file-bribery-chinese-gangsters-and-betrayal
Members of Chinese criminal gangs, known as Triads, were applying to enter Canada as entrepreneurs under the country’s business immigration program. And many were getting visas.
The reports caused panic in the immigration minister’s office and at headquarters in Ottawa, McAdam alleges. “I was exposing incredible negligence. I was exposing incredible corruption. And I was exposing the flaws in our whole immigration system.
“People in Ottawa didn’t want to investigate anything. They just shut their eyes to everything.” Most of his reports were destroyed, he says.
so here we have gutless bureaucrats hiding in Ottawa knowing full well that their immigration policies are causing a huge problem in the country and will screw over a generation of real Canadians and yet they do nothing because of political correctness and hide their heads up their asses. What a disgusting situation.
and look where we are now with the criminal chinese pouring into Canada by the thousands and absolutely destroying the social fabric of this once great country.
I wonder if the scammers were European or any other white nation. Would they be scared to hit them hard and enforce the rules? The truth is that in Canada race is such a delicate topic that we condone malfeasance to avoid raising accusations of racism.
It is shameful, and a mockery of the rule of law. But it is happening every day.
“In 1996, RCMP Cpl. Robert Read began investigating McAdam’s allegations that employees at the Hong Kong mission had received bribes and that Triad criminal gangs had infiltrated an immigration computer system.
After finding gaping holes in earlier RCMP investigations, Read urged his superiors to authorize a thorough investigation, but was taken off the case. Concerned that his bosses were suppressing his findings, Read went to the media with his concerns in 1999, which led to his dismissal from the RCMP in 2002.”
“In a secret 1997 report, Project Sidewinder’s investigators supported McAdam’s concerns, concluding that “China remains one of the greatest ongoing threats to Canada’s national security and Canadian industry.”
Days after the report was submitted, CSIS ordered all copies destroyed, dismissing it as “conspiracy theories” and “rumour and innuendo.” It was later drafted and a toned-down version was produced in 1999.
According to documents released in 2001 under access to information to researcher Ken Rubin, the RCMP believed the spy agency shelved the report because it was uneasy with its message that Beijing’s spies were working with Chinese criminal gangs in Canada.”
‘Dirty money’ is destroying Vancouver’s civic fabric—and causing lasting damage
https://www.macleans.ca/opinion/dirty-money-is-destroying-vancouvers-civic-fabric-and-causing-lasting-damage/
“Non-residents own roughly $45 billion worth of Metro Vancouver’s residential properties, and non-residents picked up one in five condominiums sold in Metro Vancouver over the past three years. That much is known. ”
one in five (20%) so much for the under-reporting data of foreign ownership.
“Transparency International reckons about half of Vancouver’s west-side residences are owned by mystery trusts or shell companies.”
West-side foreign ownership is 50%
“Transparency International reckons about half of Vancouver’s west-side residences are owned by mystery trusts or shell companies.”
That is a misquote of someone who was summarizing the actual report. That is , it’s two steps away from TI itself
https://doodles.mountainmath.ca/blog/2018/07/22/fact-checking-vancouver-s-swamp-drainers/
Total misrepresentation of the data. Here’s an article that used the stats correctly and also knows how to provide its sources:
Note that the 20% figure relates to just new builds in Vancouver, Coquitlam, and Richmond, not all condos in Metro Vancouver.
SPECIAL REPORT: HOW CANADIAN IMMIGRATION FRAUD SAW 860 RICH CHINESE BLACKLISTED
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2158716/special-report-how-canadian-immigration-fraud-saw-860-rich-chinese
Retired CRA auditor “They do not report their income while taking full advantage of our social programs and boosting the value of real estate,” he said.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2158716/special-report-how-canadian-immigration-fraud-saw-860-rich-chinese
How come compagnies like this don’t get shut down?: https://www.hostgenius.ca/packages-services
Regarding Transmountain decision:
Should Elanor Dawson, the same judge who killed the Northern Gateway, have been allowed to participate in the TM case???
Perhaps all that indigenous and gender equality crap that “Special” Justin has been pumping out have backfired as the ladies in charge, including the other judge on the case (Judith Woods) have demonstrated…and now Rachel Notley.
Professor ‘shocked’ after survey finds majority of Abbotsford approves legal pot sales
https://www.citynews1130.com/2018/08/30/abbotsford-recreational-marijuana-sales/
“You have a huge influx, because of housing prices, of young people. Those people will probably tend to be more progressive, more inclined to use products like cannabis,” he says.
what else is now? High housing prices are to blame.