A New York Times article with a single mention of Vancouver with zero hard data on the real estate sales in Vancouver does not constitute data.
The British Columbia Real Estate Association points out that, as of mid-2015:
> the available data and analysis on the housing stock and flow of residential transactions in the region suggest that foreign ownership of housing is considerably less than 5 per cent of the housing stock and not more than 5 per cent of sales activity.
Less than 5 percent of sales activity and ownership hardly constitutes a major factor for inflation of prices; sure, there might be some impact, but remember that the other 95% of transactions are performed by Canadian citizens.
Canadians need to stop blaming foreign investment as the reason for absurd home valuations, and start looking at the fact that the debt-to-income ratio is 165%, where most people have leveraged themselves at dangerously high ratios (I personally know of a few couples that have household incomes of ~$120,000/year and have $650,000 mortgages in Toronto), mostly due to the incredibly low interest rate environment that has been present since the 2008 financial crisis, and worsened by the lowering of rates last year.
The reason homes are expensive is due to rampant, unfounded speculation on the housing market, fueled by the lowest interest rate environment making cheap money readily available to people who would most likely not be able to afford their mortgage if interest rates rise a percent or two in the next few years.
The British Columbia Real Estate Association points out that, as of mid-2015:
> the available data and analysis on the housing stock and flow of residential transactions in the region suggest that foreign ownership of housing is considerably less than 5 per cent of the housing stock and not more than 5 per cent of sales activity.
http://www.bcrea.bc.ca/docs/economics-publications-archive/2...
Less than 5 percent of sales activity and ownership hardly constitutes a major factor for inflation of prices; sure, there might be some impact, but remember that the other 95% of transactions are performed by Canadian citizens.
Canadians need to stop blaming foreign investment as the reason for absurd home valuations, and start looking at the fact that the debt-to-income ratio is 165%, where most people have leveraged themselves at dangerously high ratios (I personally know of a few couples that have household incomes of ~$120,000/year and have $650,000 mortgages in Toronto), mostly due to the incredibly low interest rate environment that has been present since the 2008 financial crisis, and worsened by the lowering of rates last year.
The reason homes are expensive is due to rampant, unfounded speculation on the housing market, fueled by the lowest interest rate environment making cheap money readily available to people who would most likely not be able to afford their mortgage if interest rates rise a percent or two in the next few years.