this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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Yeah that won't happen. Houses just get bought up by those who can afford so they a) can rent them out and b) use it as a safe investment. House prices need to come back down to fix this anytime soon so they can't be seen as an investment.
Or as in the case of vancouver realestate a foreign owner buys it then never even occupies it
Is this still happening in Canada?
It was very common in Australia. A lot of Chinese ownership, citizens basically afraid their government could at any moment seize assets & bank accounts looked to move money offshore. Our government had(and still are) been proping the housing market up through every financial crises by any means necessary. So investing in the housing market is almost risk free and the guaranted gains means it easier just to leave it vacant and not have to deal with agents or tenants. It's a safe offshore bank in a country that won't steal your shit if they decide they need warfunds quickly.
But China has several restricted moving money out over the last few years and it's definitely slowed the trend here, not that it's made any noticeable impact to our housing prices
It is definitely still happening here in Canada, as you described. we have friends renting basements suites, while mainland China owner has the mainhouse as an owner/" resident", but have not actually lived in their home for two years. some homes are just totally vacant with weeds growing up through the entrances. Vancouver added a foreighn buyer tax to slow this down, but it hasn't stopped it, and vacancy tax does nothing because the offshore owner just has a friend or property management company deal with the mailed letters and fake the reporting