Housing Affordability in Canada

[Surrealistik]

You dont think they would just pass those taxes on in even more inflation?

No, why would they?

The impact of the taxes was to actually *reduce* housing prices (and significantly increase revenue), because it reduced demand since it cost foreign speculators more money to buy houses in Toronto (check out the prices after Feb 2018):

Toronto Real Estate Price History | Listing.ca

toronto.listing.ca

 

[jonny5]

No, why would they?

The impact of the taxes was to actually *reduce* housing prices (and significantly increase revenue), because it reduced demand since it cost foreign speculators more money to buy houses in Toronto (check out the prices after Feb 2018):

Toronto Real Estate Price History | Listing.ca

toronto.listing.ca

Why wouldnt they? According to this it looks like all it does is funnel more money to the govt.

Federal tax targets foreign home buyers

A 1 per cent tax on vacant properties signals that homes are meant to shelter Canadians rather than act as investments.

www.thestar.com

A one per cent tax on foreign-owned vacant homes introduced in the federal budget isn’t expected to cool Canada’s scorching pandemic housing market or make it easier for first-time home buyers to purchase a home, according to real estate experts.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Then my guess is you're going to have to wait. I've never met anyone in my entire life who was prepared to buy property in their 20s. It wasn't until my mid 30s, only then with my woman, and even she had a small loan from her family. It takes time.

Same here, we only bought our very first "starter home" in a small podunk town in North Texas in 2006, when I was FIFTY YEARS OLD and Karen was FORTY-ONE.
Prior to that we'd both been renters our entire lives, except for a tiny little home in Minnesota that I purchased for CASH back in 1979....a whopping nineteen thousand dollars.
I wound up selling it a year and a half later for twenty three thousand....big whoop.
And when we visited Minnesota in 2005 I saw that same site, and the house had been remodeled a little bit and was FOR SALE - - for $239,000, and I kicked myself in the butt real good for having not had the sense to hang onto it by any means necessary back then. I should have rented it out to someone and kept it all these years.

 

[Surrealistik]

Why wouldnt they? According to this it looks like all it does is funnel more money to the govt.

Federal tax targets foreign home buyers

A 1 per cent tax on vacant properties signals that homes are meant to shelter Canadians rather than act as investments.

www.thestar.com

The foreign buyer tax objectively did cool the real estate market, at least for a couple of years, which was the entire point; prices have since more than recovered, but the problem with affordability would almost certainly be worse otherwise.

I'm not sure what net impact the vacancy tax will have, but if it's projected as not having an impact it's clearly not nearly high enough.

Also it should be noted that the person arguing that the impact won't be notable (as identified in the article) is the CEO of Royal LePage who has a vested and material interest in this tax not coming to pass precisely because it might have a chilling effect on real estate demand and prices. He is also completely wrong, or just straight up lying, about the 'small impact' of the foreign buyer tax in Ontario/BC.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Longview:

Perhaps it's marginally more expensive but Carjosse is right about the speculative bubble inflating house prices drastically. Be it property alone, derelict housing or viable housing, the speculation is rampant. The reasons are different from region to region, but the net affect has been runaway inflation since the mid-1960's. Government policies to limit urban sprawl have had some effects to in certain parts of Canada.

Cheers and be well.
Evilroddy.

Much of that speculative bubble consists of "corporate style" investors vacuuming up as much inventory as they can and holding it off market, which creates artificial inventory shortages.
We experienced that as far back as 2012 in California where it took us TWO YEARS of searching to even find a decent home to begin with. There simply wasn't enough inventory here...a house would be sold before it even hit the market, or we'd bid and we'd be outbid SEVEN OR EIGHT TIMES just as our bid was being filed, and the house had been put on the market 24 hours ago.

It was the most ridiculous thing we'd ever seen.
And again, this was in 2012!

 

[Slartibartfast]

 

[Surrealistik]

Needs more confirmation; one month is a blip, but if it's sustained, it could be meaningful.