NPA’s Kirk LaPointe promises study of foreign investors’ impact on housing prices
Non-Partisan Association mayoral candidate Kirk LaPointe is pledging to find out just how much foreign investors are affecting housing prices in Vancouver.
Today (October 14), the NPA announced that, if it takes control of city hall in November, it will "immediately initiate a study on the scope and impact of foreign investment on residential real-estate supply and prices".
“You can’t create policy from anecdotes,” LaPointe said in a news release. “The issue must be examined responsibly. I am confident we can have this conversation in a respectful way that considers the costs and benefits of foreign ownership.”
In the release, the party stated that "Vancouverites will also be engaged in the issue of foreign-owned real estate and their preferences on the matter" through a revitalized CityPlan neighbourhood planning process.
According to the NPA, the results would "inform City Hall’s discussions with other levels of government who have additional powers over the area".
The announcement was part of the unveiling of the NPA's "economic and housing affordability platform".
Other NPA promises made today include boosting the supply of family and seniors’ housing and increasing transparency around community amenity contributions.
Comments
15 Comments
Michael Castnaveras
Oct 14, 2014 at 11:33am
Study what? You need *data* in order to study. Here's a list of groups that have attempted to study this subject:
UBC prof Andrew Yan
UBC prof David Ley
CMHC
Office of the Superintendant of Financial Institutions
Various banks and real estate companies
There is no *solid* data. All the studies rely on derived data, such as census stats. Does LaPointe think that he can convince realtors to collect passports numbers when they sell a house?
This is just hot air at best, and racism at worst. The topic deserves study, but not under the City's jurisdiction. If LaPointe wants to make informed policy then he should lobby the provincial gov't and the feds to increase tracking on the flow of foreign investment during real estate transactions (e.g. source of payment/downpayment disclosed via bank statements and/or copy of wire transfer document).
@Michael Castnaveras
Oct 14, 2014 at 12:27pm
Wondered how long it would take for some lame hyper-PC poster to trot out the tired race card.
Maybe give it a little more thought before hitting the Post button next time.
OMG
Oct 14, 2014 at 12:32pm
According to Michael Castnaveras, many groups have tried to study this problem and without much luck, I assume? It's a diverse group of researchers and I have to agree with Castnaveras that the NPA is probably not going to get any further. I've always been suspect of the claim that foreign ownership and empty houses/condos is the root cause of the lack of affordability. I'm sure it has some impact, but we could be putting out alot of effort on something that may not make much of a difference, and would probably be a constitutional issue if penalties were brought in.
If the NPA's promise to conduct a study is hot air, then what would you call Meena Wong's promise to eradicate the problem?
Where I do strongly disagree with Castnaveras is his claim that this could be considered racism! Is it racism merely because LaPointe is white? Is it not racism when Wong makes even stronger claims? Believe me, if white American's were the foreign investors there would be riots in the streets and mobs would've burnt down the investors houses ages ago.
Mark
Oct 14, 2014 at 12:34pm
I really hope he means it. There was an article over the weekend about a lady from mainland China which owns 4 houses and one condo downtown. She lives in one of them in with her family in West Vancouver, and the three others sit empty on the Westside of Vancouver.
Let's face it, neither the federal government or the provincial government want data collected, so this is the only starting point we really have. Hopefully politicians at higher levels will take notice and feel forced to collect data on foreign ownership, just like Australia does.
And please stop the claims of racism for this topic. It's pure nonsense to call studying foreign ownership racism.
MannyHo
Oct 14, 2014 at 12:49pm
Okay, great, another study. THEN WHAT? What exactly will you do with the info you find and what policies would you present to council to lessen the impact of foreign investment on residential real-estate supply and prices? Answers are needed here, not just empty promises to study something.
Good job, Melissa, getting yourself in nearly every photo with Kirk that I've seen. Unfortunately it's not going to help you win because your term as a Parks Board Commissioner was utterly pathetic.
A Concerned Citizen
Oct 14, 2014 at 1:08pm
“You can’t create policy from anecdotes,” LaPointe said in a news release. “The issue must be examined responsibly. I am confident we can have this conversation in a respectful way that considers the costs and benefits of foreign ownership.”
This is all true. It is responsible to look at the facts of this issue - even if gathering the facts is challenging.
The commitment needs to be made (as it was today) to start the process. This is the first step. Today, the majority of Vancouverites can no longer afford to live in their own city - a serious problem that needs to be solved now.
Michael Castnaveras
Oct 14, 2014 at 1:36pm
The "racism" word sure gets people up in arms fast.
I don't think it's racist to study this issue, if you can get good data. I do think LaPointe is pandering to racist voter sentiments when he suggests that *his* gov't will be the ones to act on foreign buyers. You don't think those racist sentiments exist? Well, scroll through any old news story about affordability in one of the lower end rags such as The Province and you'll find plenty of dribble about "Chinese" and "Asians".
LaPointe can't study this because it's out of his jurisdiction. It's just as stupid as all the other things municipalities examine that are out of their jurisdiction. Just because the feds and prov gov't have their head in the sand about a topic doesn't mean the city should jump in for fun. Instead, the city should *demand* that the higher levels of gov't do something.
I get that this is a Vancouver problem, so it makes sense for Vancouver to do something about it. But just like immigration is not something Vancouver can control, neither are real estate prices associated with immigration.
For what it's worth, Meena Wong's idea is equally stupid. I didn't mention it here because this article is not about her.
Mark, you mentioned Australia. Great example. Note that you didn't say Sydney, or Melbourne, because those *cities* didn't take action on foreign investment, the fed gov't did. Further, the restriction program there has totally failed. There are too many easy ways around restrictions, such as using relatives or businesses to buy properties.
"Real estate boom by foreign buyers escapes the regulators’ net"
http://goo.gl/yL0vo1
The real problem is that Canada has an addiction to home ownership. The home ownership rate here is 70%. In Germany it's 53%. In Switzerland 44%! Everyone else there lives in other forms of housing: rental, co-op, etc. The German gov't thinks real estate is a waste of capital....all those interest payments going down the drain. If you try to buy a house in Germany and your offer is too high the gov't will step in to forbid the sale!
"In World's Best-Run Economy, House Prices Keep Falling...Because That's What House Prices Are Supposed To Do"
http://goo.gl/uasFuW
Here's a heretical idea...if LaPointe wants to do something about affordability, he should double property taxes and pour that money into subsidized housing, just like German
Peter Eller
Oct 14, 2014 at 1:42pm
"Study" means I will do nothing on this while in office AKA:
"we want to hold off on making any judgment until all the the fact are in"
Unfortunately you can never get ALL the facts . What is clear is that the real estate market in Vancouver is no longer a housing market but a speculative market, because there is no correlation between incomes and housing costs. what we need is action then we can evaluate the results of that action. Study just means inaction on this problem
@Michael Castnaveras
Oct 14, 2014 at 1:58pm
"You don't think those racist sentiments exist? Well, scroll through any old news story about affordability in one of the lower end rags such as The Province and you'll find plenty of dribble about "Chinese" and "Asians"."
Of course racist sentiments exist, however not nearly to the degree that overly-sensitive types like yourself might imagine. For some reason people like you are extremely uncomfortable whenever a race is mentioned, hence your assumption that mentions of "Chinese" and "Asians" in articles about real estate are necessarily racist. Guess what? The mere mention of one's race isn't indicative of racism.
"The German gov't thinks real estate is a waste of capital....all those interest payments going down the drain."
What nonsense. Nonsense that the German gov't thinks real estate is a waste of capital (they don't, and it isn't), and nonsense that interest payments go "down the drain". I guess I made a mistake taking out a mortgage. Sure it's paid off now, and sure I'm not forced to pay rent for the next 2 or 3 decades, but that damn drain that my interest payments went down! If only I had saved those interest payments - maybe even invested them. Then I could have the pleasure of figure out how I'm going to pay ever-increasing rents for the rest of my life!
RUK
Oct 14, 2014 at 3:41pm
OMFG, a "study."
First, it's not racist. Facts are not racist.
Second, it's pointless. What difference does it possibly make if the buyers come from Fujian or Dildo, NFLD?
The actual point is that demand outweighs supply. Those of us that have real estate can dream up a ridiculous number and apparently someone is going to meet it.
Affordability is a *serious* matter and I would like to see some *serious* work on this. For example, OneCity's RJ Aquino is talking about a sort of purchase levy that goes straight into affordable housing construction.
Is it workable? Is that really a city function? Would the housing be like CMHC co-ops, a top-up for purchasers, straight rental development, a PPP...? Uh, who knows?
But it's still serious in that it's talking about putting a massive surcharge on purchasers so that Vancouverites can still afford to live here under some scheme or another. That would be a drag on prices (maybe) and at least a way of skimming some of the cream off to spread it around.