https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/02/vancouver-real-estate-foreign-house-buyers-tax
Too many ways around it...
No. Only the Federal government has the power to enact such a thing and the fallout would be too vast if enacted as widely as the entire country.
Since this news is over 1.5 year old, does anyone know how did the tax impact the housing prices in Vancouver?
Crashed and is now recovering again. I drove through a neighborhood and saw entire blocks of derelict houses for sale.
Not really. https://globalnews.ca/news/3636579/vancouver-foreign-homebuyers-tax-one-year-anniversary/amp/
You are welcome. :) https://globalnews.ca/news/3636579/vancouver-foreign-homebuyers-tax-one-year-anniversary/amp/
A solution in search of a problem. Seattle doesn’t have the same problem with foreign speculation because our relatively high property tax (3x van, up to 10x London) makes homes here a worse investment.
Taxing unoccupied homes is one thing, targeting foreign buyers with a tax is another. The bigger problem is supply and changing lifestyles. We need more villages of higher density townhouses with communal yards and to move away from 1960s style suburb design. There’s not enough space and too many people who want to live here.
It's pointless, since this is not a major part oft he problem here in Seattle. The primary problem is that we're adding *1000* net new residents a *week* and inventory is low. Both of those problems are going to get worse. The ene tax law grandfathers existing mortgages so no one wants to sell. Additionally, there's a large tech exodus from CA and it's going to increase post this tax plan, since WA comes out far ahead of CA in the new tax regime.
Yes, if you call your politicians and sell it to them. Then sell it to voters.
Useless, Vancouver house prices is recovered already
this is against economic growth. Adam Smith will not agree with this
Adam Smith never had to buy a house in new-China-money Vancouver. Makes perfect sense for locals who only have locally-generated wealth.
Not really. They bought a house as investment, many are just left empty without even renting it out. Worst case, the government can milk some additional funding from those people to fund local projects.