(Reuters) - Canada on Sunday announced a two-year extension to a ban on foreign ownership of Canadian housing, saying the step was aimed at addressing worries about Canadians being priced out of housing markets in cities and towns across the country.
Canada is facing a housing affordability crisis, which has been blamed on an increase in migrants and international students, fueling demand for homes just as rising costs have slowed construction.
I don’t get the impression that the Canadian government wants to do anything about its housing crisis.
Yes there are unsustainable levels of immigration, but the levels are set deliberately to keep the housing bubble alive and to suppress local wages. 1
Foreigners are also easy targets to blame when the housing “crisis” is really just a depraved economic scheme.
Corporate ownership aside, owners outnumber renters in every province. Canada has a large population that will not support affordable housing because it hurts the appreciation of their property. 2
1 Adding 1.1m new people with only 200k new housing units skews the demand and supply on the housing market to jack up the cost of housing to $2,500 for 1 bedroom at a minimum wage of $16.55, so you’re looking at negative $600 per month of income for full time work after taxes and rent.
The Canadian government extended 10,000 visas to failed H1B applicants in 2 days. I think it is safe to assume 10k tech jobs weren’t added in those two days.
2 10m owners vs 5m renters
Apparently one thing they intend to do is cap the number of international students. Not saying that’s much, but I guess it is one thing.