From: brewnoserii@gmail.com   
      
   Globe and Mail - February 17, 2016   
      
   B.C. government's plan to collect data on foreign homebuyers draws fire   
      
   Immigration lawyer says B.C.'s new disclosure rules only focus on 'half the   
   problem,' by targeting residency but not the source of capital   
      
      
   B.C.'s pledge to collect more data on home buyers, after an endless debate   
   about the lack of hard facts on foreign ownership in Vancouver's hot property   
   market, is already being criticized for failing to truly capture the impact of   
   global capital on    
   local real estate prices.   
      
   British Columbia Finance Minister Mike de Jong, in delivering the province's   
   budget, said the government would start asking property buyers whether they   
   were a citizen or a permanent resident and, if not, where they were from.   
      
   But Richard Kurland, a Vancouver immigration lawyer who works with wealthy    
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   clients from China, said the policy is flawed and will not accurately gauge   
   the true level of foreign participation in the local housing market.   
      
   Mr. Kurland says tens of thousands of wealthy "investor immigrants" from China   
   who have arrived in B.C. over the years, and continue to arrive, on government   
   programs are formally permanent residents under the current system.  He said   
   they would count as    
   purely Canadian in the government's analysis, despite earning all of their   
   income abroad and, in some cases, continuing to live abroad while owning   
   properties in B.C.   
      
   "There's a huge gap. ... They get a big F," Mr. Kurland said.  "The only   
   on-the-ground effect is the continuous flow of millionaires into the region.    
   That's not abating in any way."   
      
   In the City of Vancouver, the average price of a detached house in January   
   reached $2.87-million, up an almost unbelievable 46 per cent from the same   
   time last year.    
      
   With some real estate firms saying as much as 70 per cent of detached houses   
   more than $3-million are going to buyers from China, the city has been engaged   
   in a non-stop debate about the role of foreign money in Vancouver's   
   increasingly pricey housing    
   market and the impact that could have on the future of the city, as many young   
   families, and even upper-middle-class professionals, are left frozen out of   
   the housing market.   
      
   The issue has even attracted the attention of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,   
   who has said there needs to be more data collected.   
      
   Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has asked B.C. Premier Christy Clark's   
   government to intervene in the housing market, but Ms. Clark and Mr. de Jong   
   have maintained they would not enact policies that might devalue house prices.   
      
   In this week's budget, the province said it would collect an additional   
   3-per-cent tax on the portion of a house sale that exceeds $2-million, exempt   
   new homes valued under $750,000 from the property transfer tax, and begin   
   collecting data on the    
   citizenship of buyers.   
      
   Mr. de Jong said in an interview he won't prejudge what the data will show,   
   but repeated that he is not interested in discouraging foreign investors.   
      
   "There is a diversity of opinion about the degree to which foreign investment   
   in the market is driving prices," Mr. de Jong said.  "The value in the market   
   has increased to a degree and with a speed that is registering on people.    
   Other world-class    
   cities are confronted by this phenomenon.   But it's not true that there are   
   no housing options for residents."   
      
   Mr. Kurland said the government should instead ask buyers where they pay   
   income tax - which would show where they earn their money, and could   
   eventually help smooth out the housing market for those already living in   
   Vancouver, where house prices have    
   soared despite the average median household income being on par with Windsor,   
   Ont.   
      
   "Why is the property-flipping business so good?  Because foreigners have an   
   advantage.  They don't pay transfer taxes.  They're not paying their share   
   under the Income Tax  Act. And they're illicitly declaring [Vancouver] housing   
   as a principal residence,   
   " Mr. Kurland says, noting that by doing so they avoid paying capital gains   
   tax.  "Until there's a requirement to designate the source of funds behind the   
   transaction, it's the wild west."   
      
   Saeid Fard, a local tech executive who has been outspoken on housing   
   affordability and the exodus of young talent from an increasingly pricey city,   
   said the new disclosure rules only focus on "half the problem," by targeting   
   residency but not the source    
   of capital.  He noted the new measures fail to address soaring prices, and may   
   one day make the situation much worse.   
      
   "The B.C. Liberals' approach to affordability can be reduced to removing what   
   they perceive as barriers to entry for marginal buyers," he said "When your   
   solutions to affordability are entirely predicated on getting more people into   
   an already heated and    
   overvalued market, as opposed to addressing the root causes of u   
   affordability, you are simply postponing a disaster and encouraging new   
   entrants to irresponsibly stretch themselves even further."   
      
   Ryan Rosenberg, another Vancouver immigration lawyer, says he also doubts   
   whether the new measures will have any impact.  "There's an incredible amount   
   of wealth overseas that can buy anything our supply has. ... We're not talking   
   about equal competitors    
   in an free market," Mr. Rosenberg says, adding that he doesn't think there is   
   anything wrong with foreign investment and that the government should be   
   cautious about how closely it scrutinizes the roots of permanent residents.   
      
   "Short of a formal limitation, I'm not sure what any of these measures will do   
   at all. It's really nice window dressing."   
      
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