XPost: bc.politics, van.general, vic.general   
   From: ConsRCons@govt.cda   
      
   Imagine.  A province where its own residents could afford to buy - and   
   in time, own - their own home.   
      
   Put pressure on your government MLAs and city mayors to adopt these   
   curbs now.  Otherwise, you're leaving the door open to foreign property   
   owners at the expense of your own families.   
   ___________________________________   
   The Globe and Mail - Published Friday, Dec. 13 2013   
      
      
   With Vancouver prices up, a call for curbs   
      
      
   Along with a jump in house sales, house prices in Vancouver have risen   
   sharply and will likely continue to climb in the new year, pushing some   
   frustrated house hunters to call for curbs on the foreign buyers they   
   blame for stoking the rapid ramping up of housing values.   
      
   B.C.’s real estate market powered through third-quarter 2013 as the   
   number of sales rose 18.91 per cent this year over last, according to   
   the most recent report by Landcor Data Corp., which bases its findings   
   on provincial assessment numbers. The total value of those sales rose   
   25.62 per cent to $14.72-billion for July through September.   
      
   The outlook for 2014 is just as robust, says Helmut Pastrick, chief   
   economist for Central 1 Credit Union. Mr. Pastrick forecasts prices to   
   go up less than 5 per cent in 2014, with the greatest increase for   
   single-family detached homes rather than apartments and townhouses. The   
   Teranet National Bank Home Price Index, out earlier this week, showed   
   prices up in Vancouver 3.9 per cent on an annual basis.   
      
   As usual, the market with the highest growth in sales volume was Greater   
   Vancouver, with a 26.46-per-cent increase over 2012.   
      
   “Single-family detached [homes] are up a solid 6.39 per cent, propelling   
   the average price of a Metro Vancouver detached manse to $869,772,” the   
   Landcor report said.   
      
   Vancouver routinely shows up in surveys as one of the most expensive   
   real estate markets in the world, requiring its residents to devote at   
   least 84 per cent of their monthly incomes to housing costs.   
      
   But even areas outside the city are becoming unaffordable to residents   
   such as Joy Mo, who came to Canada from China in 2001. Ms. Mo got shut   
   out of the market when she and her husband sold their Coquitlam house   
   and decided to rent for a year before purchasing a bigger house for   
   their growing family. Ms. Mo has been renting a townhouse in Port Moody   
   for the past four years, unable to find a house in the Tri-Cities area   
   that falls within their $650,000 price range. They’ve put two offers on   
   houses in the past three months and were out-bid on both of them, one by   
   a foreign buyer.   
      
   Ms. Mo works as a court translator and she and her husband make a decent   
   living.   
      
   Although some real estate analysts argue the lack of government data on   
   foreign buyers is too anecdotal to confirm their impact, Ms. Mo   
   disagrees. She was recently the subject of a South China Morning Post   
   blog by Ian Young, in which she squarely blamed foreign buyers from   
   around the world for driving the market.   
      
   She says you only have to look around to see that developers and   
   marketers are catering to those buyers, particularly on the west side,   
   in West Vancouver, Richmond, White Rock and the Tri-Cities area.   
      
   Because she’s from China, people often tell her she’s to blame for   
   rising prices, but she’s not any different than the average middle-class   
   resident. The government here, she says, should apply an extra tax to   
   foreign owners.   
      
   Mayor Gregor Robertson recently said if warranted, he might consider a   
   special property tax for foreign investors to try to control the high   
   cost of real estate. But at this point, it’s less a plan than conjecture.   
      
   “Whenever we talk about building infrastructure, like bridges, tunnels,   
   and that type of thing, we always cry about the lack of money,” Ms. Mo   
   says. “Well, to me at least, [extra taxes for foreign buyers] is a way   
   to generate some revenue.   
      
   “I am a Canadian citizen. If I go back to China, I am not allowed to   
   purchase any property there. The government only allows it if you are a   
   permanent resident there, and you have to purchase that house for your   
   main residence. You can’t flip it or rent it out, that kind of thing.   
      
   “I’m not saying that’s wrong or right, but they know how to protect   
   their market. I know Hong Kong has similar laws or regulations,” she says.   
      
   It’s true that China doesn’t allow foreign ownership. And the government   
   in Hong Kong charges foreign buyers an additional 15 per cent Buyer’s   
   Stamp Duty.   
      
   “I ask friends, ‘How do you find the housing market here?’ And they say   
   it’s really cheap. They are surprised we don’t charge extra fees for   
   foreign owners,” Ms. Mo says.   
      
   “On the one hand, we have immigrants like myself here, and we try to   
   settle, and work very hard, trying to afford our homes. But on the other   
   hand, there are really wealthy people from [China] coming here, and it’s   
   not fair. They are our competitors. So why aren’t we doing anything?”   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)