this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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Politics
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Those are a signifigant issues globally.
And each country blames it's own leaders, when the problem seems to be more systemic than the fault a single country's leader.
Well, rumor has it that Chinese billionaires have been buying up housing in western nations in order to park their money outside of China where the Chinese tax authorities can't get to it. If that's true, then that would drive up housing costs in multiple countries at the same time, and those countries' leaders aren't stopping it, so those leaders are to blame.
Canada actually passed a law prohibiting foreign buyers of real estate. It hasn't had much of an effect on housing costs, because when you're looking at millions and millions of people, a handful of billionaires really doesn't change the underlying problem very much.
It hasn't had much of an effect on housing costs because it's too late. Claw back all the housing they bought up, sell it off to citizens at reasonable prices, and then you'll see an effect on housing costs.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/1/6/why-is-canada-banning-foreign-homebuyers
I'm not personally convinced that freeing up maybe 3% of the housing stock (large amounts of which are probably rented) would have a significant effect on the housing market. Maybe, just maybe, there's been a chronic lack of new supply for decades?
Nah, I'm sure it's just those dastardly Chinese.
Then why is this only now, only abruptly, becoming a problem?