It's only been 2 days no?

It feels like a weird time to buy, foreigners obviously won't like the tax, possibly finding out another way to buy, and locals have it in their mind that prices might go down due to the tax so perhaps they are holding off. I think by Christmas time we should have a clear idea on what's really happening with the market.

My prediction is that housing will still be unaffordable and here's how I see it.

We bought our place 3 years ago for 1mil. At its peak, we could of easily gotten 2mil, possibly 2.5mil with the prices of houses selling around us. We'll just say it's worth 2mil now. If prices were to drop a drastic 25%, would you able to 1.5mil? If the answer is no, good luck with your house hunting. Even a 50% drop, it would be back at 1mil. Could and WOULD you want to pull such a massive mortgage and have $250k for a down?

Prices in July were at an all time high in Victoria, they also said inventory is at a 8 month low

Those aren't conditions for price adjustments lol

I doubt this is going to fix the problem.
The amount of money Chinese investors have VS average Canadians have is in totally different level.

The economists say "affordable" housing market is 5 year worth of your annual salary.

The median BC Family income is $76,770
Median total income, by family type, by province and territory (All census families)

$76,770 x 5 years = $383,850

So the ideal average price of housing in BC needs to be brought down to $383,850 in order for Canadians to be able to get into the market.

According to CBC, the average housing price in BC is $508,097
Here's what kind of home $508K gets you in the Lower Mainland - British Columbia - CBC News

Which means, BC housing market is 24% too high for Canadians.

This still doesn't make sense though, since many houses are selling for over $2 million, I don't think 24% discount will make it suddenly affordable.

I agree prices will likely remain unaffordable. Nothing is impossible though. If you bought your place for 1 million 3 years ago and someone told you that your place would go up 150% in 3 years I doubt you would have believed that could ever happen either.

It would take some major shit to happen to crumble like that but I wouldn't call it impossible.

BC is more than just lower mainland..

There are plenty of "homes" for under 350.

Question for peeps..

If you bought a home would you want property lines surveyed showing exact dimensions, or would you be ok simply knowing the size and a rough estimate of the lines?

thats the problem nowadays. When purchasing a home, everyone is listening to so much bullshit on the news, from friends that are scared to buy, bubble bursting, foreign money etc etc.

We bought because we needed a place to live, not to make 150% on it. If I knew the prices would skyrocket, I would have bought 10 places. Our house is not an investment so don't look and treat it like one but obviously live within your means and if you afford it, why not? It's a bonus that housing goes up when we decide to sell. The moment we decide to sell, we'll look at it from an investment point of view

If your waiting for the market to crumble, you might as well play the lotto, the odds are about the same

yeah but I heard lower mainland was actually affordable 15-20 years ago.
it was obtainable for average working Canadians.

now they have to move somewhere else to find an affordable housing.

I think it depends on the state of the lot you're looking at. Are there visible encroachments? Are you concerned about easements, like pedestrian access adjacent to the lot, that have expanded over time? Are you looking to flip the lot in a few years? If you are, it might be helpful for the next buyer to know what the exact dimensions of the lot are.

I think people who are waiting for the bubble to burst want their ideal home at the price they want to pay. Trouble is, it's hard to predict when (not if) prices will fall to a level they're comfortable paying.

For the people on the sidelines...now would be a good time to actively start checking out open houses.

Cause once the dust settles by the end of the year. These crafty rich foreigners will find a way to side step this tax and the market should pick up again.

This is interesting.

In Vancouver, Quebec millionaire migration has gone from real estate ?conspiracy theory? to premier-level concern | South China Morning Post

If your building a new fence, or building a house, and the pins aren't clearly pounded in or for whatever reason I don't trust them, I will absolutely survey new points and get some pins pounded.

Also keep in mind that depending on where you are building city planners or zoning people may want to see a new survey depending on how old the last one is or if site conditions have changed.

From that same link...

study-reveals-awfulness-canadian-investor-immigration-income-tax

Christ, $1400 average income tax per immigrant millionaire?

This is what happens under "astronaut families" where dad sends money to Canada, while Mom not only claims low income tax, but also WELFARE for extra cash. Yet they live in that seven digit house bought with cash, and the kids get their Mercedes to drive to school.

This is such a bullshit article.

It wasn't even 2 full days and they're already preaching about the 15% tax as if it's going to continually be a 75% decrease. Sample size, guys.

from that QIIP article, Friday is last day to voice your opinions to the feds

https://secure.cic.gc.ca/consultatio...621.1464280877

What's an extra 10% to a foreign investor spending 5mill on a condo downtown.. Nothing.

It was all just a ploy to give people hope that the market will correct itself.

It should be more than 15%, basically I want foreigners to single handedly fund TransLink. They're rich they don't care about money.

all you guys who said an extra 10-15% tax for foreign buyer means nothing to them are insane. :facepalm:

Sure maybe they wouldn't care if the house value itself went up 10-15%...because it just means they are buying something that's worth more, and can resell it for more in the market.

But the 15% is a tax (that only applies to them, not the market as a whole). An expense that is lost once they purchase the house.
Most of these guys are buying up the houses as an investment. Losing 15% immediately after purchase definitely doesn't sound like a good investment.

You know how much length foreigners often go so they can avoid paying Canadian income tax? (and it is usually for amount much less than 15% tax on a 2mil house)

I wouldn't be surprise if the foreign buyer drops to near 0%, and makes no change in the market. It is such an easy tax to bypass, and heck, it is probably cheaper for them to go thru QIIP than to pay 15% tax.

We have problem with foreign money flowing into Canada. We don't have problem with foreign buyer. It feels like the public often confuse between the two. (They think immigrant Chinese buyer = foreign buyer)

^I think the foreign buyers will get creative and find a family friend or relative who is a Canadian citizen to buy it for them

They'll find a way around it, nothing with change, liberals will get voted out, and the NDP will be in power again lol

And that isn't nearly as bad as the apocalypse many people seem to believe. The pendulum has only swung (one way) further and further off to the right since 2001 when Gordo Campbell took office, so much so that the social balance in our province has gone completely out of whack. I am not at all a socialist by any means -- if anything, I am more of a mild right wing kind of person. But when even someone such as myself recognizes that public funding to all kinds of government programs are at all time low, that our social welfare system is more holey than a lump of swiss cheese, you know there is a problem.