• kent_eh@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Those are a signifigant issues globally.

    And each country blames it’s own leaders, when the problem seems to be more systemic than the fault a single country’s leader.

    • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Well, rumor has it that Chinese billionaires have been buying up housing in western nations in order to park their money outside of China where the Chinese tax authorities can’t get to it. If that’s true, then that would drive up housing costs in multiple countries at the same time, and those countries’ leaders aren’t stopping it, so those leaders are to blame.

      • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        Canada actually passed a law prohibiting foreign buyers of real estate. It hasn’t had much of an effect on housing costs, because when you’re looking at millions and millions of people, a handful of billionaires really doesn’t change the underlying problem very much.

        • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          It hasn’t had much of an effect on housing costs because it’s too late. Claw back all the housing they bought up, sell it off to citizens at reasonable prices, and then you’ll see an effect on housing costs.

          • BraveSirZaphod@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            1 year ago

            Foreign owners only account for a small share of the Canadian real estate market. According to Statistics Canada, a government website, non-residents owned 2.2 percent of residential properties in Ontario and 3.1 percent in British Columbia in 2020. The percentages were 2.7 and 4.2 in the Toronto and Vancouver metropolitan areas, respectively.

            https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/6/why-is-canada-banning-foreign-homebuyers

            I’m not personally convinced that freeing up maybe 3% of the housing stock (large amounts of which are probably rented) would have a significant effect on the housing market. Maybe, just maybe, there’s been a chronic lack of new supply for decades?

            Nah, I’m sure it’s just those dastardly Chinese.

            • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Maybe, just maybe, there’s been a chronic lack of new supply for decades?

              Then why is this only now, only abruptly, becoming a problem?