What is the average price of a house in your city?

[Specialisttailender]

I've been living in Toronto for 4 years now and an average cost of a home here is $1,000,000. I'm not settled yet, still free-loading of parents money from India and I'm a student. Eventually I like to obtain a PR and buy a house here but the house prices are so ridiculous. House prices have gone up 30% since last year Even if you try to buy a home, there is a bidding system and bidders take the auction to well above the listed price. I have few questions for the heck of it.

1. What is the average price of a home in your city ?
2. What is the value of your house right now ? (optional)
3. How are you looking to tackle this situation ? (Canadians)

 

[Syed1]

I knew a Torontonian made this thread even before I opened it. Housing and house prices are a HUGE issue in Toronto at the moment.

 

[Syed1]

A friend of mine was looking to sell his place, and it was an old 4 bed house in a not to fancy part of town. He put it up for $800,000 and a bidding war ensued between two or three of the buyers and the house was eventually sold for $880,000. That is crazy.

In the past the buyers would negotiate the price to bring it down, here it is going up, and this is VERY VERY common.


The reason for this massive surge in prices is all of these Chinese, Japanese and Korean businessmen parking their money in Canada by investing in property and letting it grow. Who doesn't like a 30% increase in their wealth year-on-year.

To counter this phenomenon the government imposed a 15% additional tax for foreign buyers and this still hasn't stopped these foreigners from buying massive amounts of land and leaving them unused.

 

[Pakistanian]

We have lots of land here and the cost of living is one of the cheapest, so a mid-sized house (2500-8000 sq ft) can cost you anywhere between $300,000 to $800,000 depending on the area. It's really nice compared to Canada which is so overpriced and the best part is that houses here usually fully detached and come with a 2 to 3 car garage, unlike in Canada.

 

[srh]

We have lots of land here and the cost of living is one of the cheapest, so a mid-sized house (2500-8000 sq ft) can cost you anywhere between $300,000 to $800,000 depending on the area. It's really nice compared to Canada which is so overpriced and the best part is that houses here usually fully detached and come with a 2 to 3 car garage, unlike in Canada.

at least tell which city or town you are talking about

 

[Nostalgic]

at least tell which city or town you are talking about

Lots of land? Low cost of living? Midwest, a.k.a Flyoverland.

 

[Pakistanian]

Lots of land? Low cost of living? Midwest, a.k.a Flyoverland.

Naah, the lonestar state.

 

[Pakistanian]

We even got real cheap gasoline prices. Tx also has the best economy and creates the most jobs than all the other states combined and yall act surprised when we want to secede.

 

[Syed1]

Naah, the lonestar state.

Texas lmao... isn't that the redneck country of redneck country?

 

[Nostalgic]

Naah, the lonestar state.

You should've mentioned the bugs and the dust, and I would've guessed right.

 

[Pakistanian]

You should've mentioned the bugs and the dust, and I would've guessed right.

It's not that dusty at all unless you're talking about west Texas, most of the Austin, Houston and DFW area is very green, bugs aren't a problem either I don't remember seeing any critters in my houses for years now except outdoors and isn't even that bad.

 

[Pakistanian]

Texas lmao... isn't that the redneck country of redneck country?

That is true about the white population in the rural areas and to lesser extent in the suburbs but there are lots of transplants from California, the midwest and the East Coast here. It's also very diverse, lots of Pakistanis and other races here. There's even a Pakistani Mayor in the town of Paris, Tx and a Lesbian is the Mayor of Houston.

 

[JaDed]

A friend of mine was looking to sell his place, and it was an old 4 bed house in a not to fancy part of town. He put it up for $800,000 and a bidding war ensued between two or three of the buyers and the house was eventually sold for $880,000. That is crazy.

In the past the buyers would negotiate the price to bring it down, here it is going up, and this is VERY VERY common.


The reason for this massive surge in prices is all of these Chinese, Japanese and Korean businessmen parking their money in Canada by investing in property and letting it grow. Who doesn't like a 30% increase in their wealth year-on-year.

To counter this phenomenon the government imposed a 15% additional tax for foreign buyers and this still hasn't stopped these foreigners from buying massive amounts of land and leaving them unused.

But the real estate are fooling the people saying they are only about 8-10% of them,saying they have the data although they are not releasing the entire data.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/a-cooling-effect-realtors-react-to-ontario-housing-plan-1.3377463

Also the foreign buyer property tax will hopefully cool it off (already did in Vancouver),although as GTA,Vancouver made those act somehow the express entry points systems fell,not sure but its all too fishy!

 

[Nostalgic]

It's not that dusty at all unless you're talking about west Texas, most of the Austin, Houston and DFW area is very green, bugs aren't a problem either I don't remember seeing any critters in my houses for years now except outdoors and isn't even that bad.

I drove down to Houston from Colorado last year to go to the consulate. Our route was through New Mexico, and then into Texas, past Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, and on to Houston. Lets just say each part of Texas had its own set of problems. Dust, flies, bugs, and utter emptiness in the panhandle and the west, and then heat, humidity and bird droppings in the Abilene-Houston leg.

I came back and took my vehicle to the car wash. The guy had one look at it, and said "Texas?"

 

[Pakistanian]

I drove down to Houston from Colorado last year to go to the consulate. Our route was through New Mexico, and then into Texas, past Amarillo, Lubbock, Abilene, and on to Houston. Lets just say each part of Texas had its own set of problems. Dust, flies, bugs, and utter emptiness in the panhandle and the west, and then heat, humidity and bird droppings in the Abilene-Houston leg.

I came back and took my vehicle to the car wash. The guy had one look at it, and said "Texas?"

Dude you drove through WEST Texas that's why it was so dusty, those aren't even the major cities here. Next time visit Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and the Gulf coast and then make your judgement. Austin would probably appeal to you the most because of it's green hilly terrain, really makes your headspin. It's also a pretty liberal city.

Btw Lubbock is known for it's dust storms, these only reason why it's a city is cause of Tx Tech.

 

[troodon]

Lived in various states in US.

Talking about 3bed,2 bath
Dallas-Fortworth =$500000
Miami Suburbs = $450000
Cincinnati = $350000
Jacksonville = $300000

All the above are for newly built homes with no upgrades.

A common man cannot afford any of this. They all buy on loans from banks with average salary of less than $80000 per year. This means asking for trouble.

 

[Pakistanian]

Lived in various states in US.

Talking about 3bed,2 bath
Dallas-Fortworth =$500000
Miami Suburbs = $450000
Cincinnati = $350000
Jacksonville = $300000

All the above are for newly built homes with no upgrades.

A common man cannot afford any of this. They all buy on loans from banks with average salary of less than $80000 per year. This means asking for trouble.

Naah you can get a 4 bed 3.5 bath house for around half a mil in one of the nicer suburbs of Dtown.

 

[JaDed]

Lived in various states in US.

Talking about 3bed,2 bath
Dallas-Fortworth =$500000
Miami Suburbs = $450000
Cincinnati = $350000
Jacksonville = $300000

All the above are for newly built homes with no upgrades.

A common man cannot afford any of this. They all buy on loans from banks with average salary of less than $80000 per year. This means asking for trouble.

U got GC?

 

[Rayyman]

You should've mentioned the bugs and the dust, and I would've guessed right.

It's not that dusty at all unless you're talking about west Texas, most of the Austin, Houston and DFW area is very green, bugs aren't a problem either I don't remember seeing any critters in my houses for years now except outdoors and isn't even that bad.

Boys Texas is too hot drove there from NJ last summer was 100* every day lol in Houston. Pakistanian is right, East America is green and gets dryer once you go west of mid-Kansas. I can't handle heat I'm thinking of moving to Minnesota when I'm older I love the cold and it's not too expensive up there.

 

[Pakistanian]

Boys Texas is too hot drove there from NJ last summer was 100* every day lol in Houston. Pakistanian is right, East America is green and gets dryer once you go west of mid-Kansas. I can't handle heat I'm thinking of moving to Minnesota when I'm older I love the cold.

I was talking about East and North texas, not east America lol. Texas is a huge state the weather isn't the same everywhere. I swear people call Texans dumb but people dumb generalizations about this state.

 

[Rayyman]

I was talking about East and North texas, not east America lol. Texas is a huge state the weather isn't the same everywhere. I swear people call Texans dumb but people dumb generalizations about this state.

Yea but the longitude at which Texas gets dryer, rest of America does too.

 

[FreakCricket]

buying a house is easy what hurts is paying $25k in property taxes, i heard its pretty low in canada/toronto. Im from westchester Ny so its usually high here!

 

[Nostalgic]

Boys Texas is too hot drove there from NJ last summer was 100* every day lol in Houston. Pakistanian is right, East America is green and gets dryer once you go west of mid-Kansas. I can't handle heat I'm thinking of moving to Minnesota when I'm older I love the cold and it's not too expensive up there.

I lived in MN for two and a half years. Lets just say the -50F windchills get old very, very quickly. And just because winters are brutal doesn't mean the summers are mild. It gets to around 90F in the summer, with humidity, and their state bird, the mosquito, breeds at all of those overrated lakes. And you need to be 6' at the very least, or those Scandinavians will tower over you.

Have you ever had lutefisk? If not, you should try it to dissuade yourself from moving there.

 

[Nostalgic]

Dude you drove through WEST Texas that's why it was so dusty, those aren't even the major cities here. Next time visit Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston and the Gulf coast and then make your judgement. Austin would probably appeal to you the most because of it's green hilly terrain, really makes your headspin. It's also a pretty liberal city.

Btw Lubbock is known for it's dust storms, these only reason why it's a city is cause of Tx Tech.

But I was in Houston. Once we were past Abilene, the closer we got to Houston, the greener it got, for sure, but it was hot and humid, and I could tell the altitude got lower and lower.

I've been to Austin. Its not too bad, although a tad overrated. The traffic was horrible, and the much-hyped "hill country" wasn't really all that hilly. If I had to live in Texas though, it would have to be Austin. I may well live there in the future, given how there are so many tech jobs there.

 

[moghul]

Much much cheaper in USA compared to Canada.
Expensive in NYC, New Jersey, Chicago and other big cities posh areas but virtually every state has places where house price is very reasonable, particularly midwest and Texas.

Property Tax is the highest in New Jersey, also high in NY and some other places, dirt cheap in Texas and midwest.

 

[sjahmed23]

Buying a house? We don't even speak of such things here. 1 bedroom condo = $200k built in 1930s with possible water leaks. Can you guess which city??

I envy the older generation who had it pretty easy, nowadays its next to impossible.

 

[ahsan17]

The reason for this massive surge in prices is all of these Chinese, Japanese and Korean businessmen parking their money in Canada by investing in property and letting it grow. Who doesn't like a 30% increase in their wealth year-on-year.

That is a red herring. Yes that is part of the problem, but the bigger issue is people living within GTA and rest of Ontario buying properties as investment properties to rent them out to people. I can almost certainly guarantee those people account for much larger portion of rental and vacant properties than foreigners.

The other issue of course is a lack of land available to build new houses. Many cities want to restrict the sprawl and build up instead of building out. Then there's also the greenbelt.

I'd categorize those two issues as bigger issues than foreigners buying investment properties. And this problem is now spilling further away from GTA. For example, people from GTA are now buying properties in Kitchener/Waterloo either as investment properties or for living, and that's driven the prices up in that area by 30% as well in the last 12 months.

 

[IAJ]

In Oslo, 80 square meter apartments outside city centre go easily past USD 500 000, and similar apartments in city center go for more than USD 1 000 000. It really depends on where the apartment is located. In westside of Oslo you have simply crazy prices.

 

[Nostalgic]

Buying a house? We don't even speak of such things here. 1 bedroom condo = $200k built in 1930s with possible water leaks. Can you guess which city??

I envy the older generation who had it pretty easy, nowadays its next to impossible.

San Fran?

 

[sjahmed23]

San Fran?

I wish... just recently visited beautiful city with beautiful landscape.

I am in NYC. And I am not even talking about Manhattan but outter boroughs like Queens, Brooklyn...

 

[Ellipsism]

Nothing compares to Sydney.

A house in the most run down of areas costs up to $1000,000 AUD

 

[Sidilicious]

Nothing compares to Sydney.

A house in the most run down of areas costs up to $1000,000 AUD

The salaries in Australia are also significantly higher though

 

[Ellipsism]

The salaries in Australia are also significantly higher though

Not enough for first home buyers.

Note: the million dollar mean price does not include stamp duty.

 

[sjahmed23]

I am surprised to see the house prices even in Pakistan!

A house in DHA Karachi is going for ~500k USD. And even in average neighborhoods a 120 sq yard house is around 200k USD. It would take me 10-15 years to save up this amount of money making 80-100k a year (before taxes). I wonder how people in Pakistan are able to save this amount or are those prices really for the people who are already rich?

 

[GenericBrand]

Naah, the lonestar state.

Good to know its still like that. Used to live in Dallas, which was like 15-20 years ago and my parents bought their semi-detached for $80k. We've been living in Canada for around 15 years now and in the city of Mississauga (beside Toronto) a semi goes for around 600-800k and its smaller!

 

[GenericBrand]

Texas lmao... isn't that the redneck country of redneck country?

Texas isn't as red-neck as most people believe. The larger cities like Austin, Dallas etc are quite liberal and believe it or not Texas was a blue state til the late 70s.

 

[GenericBrand]

The salaries in Australia are also significantly higher though

Is it because of inflation? The AUD is the same value as CAD but the numbers in Australia when it comes to price and salaries are much larger from what I've seen.

 

[Slog]

What type

 

[Slog]

I am surprised to see the house prices even in Pakistan!

A house in DHA Karachi is going for ~500k USD. And even in average neighborhoods a 120 sq yard house is around 200k USD. It would take me 10-15 years to save up this amount of money making 80-100k a year (before taxes). I wonder how people in Pakistan are able to save this amount or are those prices really for the people who are already rich?

500 yard house in Clifton or defence will easily go for $750k or so

 

[KingKhanWC]

Dont know but here the government gives you a house to live if you can't afford to buy one. You pay lower rent, they fix it when needed and you can buy it in the future at a good price. However these neighbourhoods arent the best.

 

[shaz619]

Dont know but here the government gives you a house to live if you can't afford to buy one. You pay lower rent, they fix it when needed and you can buy it in the future at a good price. However these neighbourhoods arent the best.

It's very hard for people now KingKhan, there are a number of criteria which they need to fulfil and remain on a waiting list for a long time. Know of a young family which had to go live in hostels etc in order to help their eligibility when they were finding it hard to make ends meet living in a single room in poor condition. But that option was not on as going to a hostel would also mean living separately. And you've seen how bad the situation is in Brum when it comes to homelessness and rough sleepers, someone past away on the streets last winter as well :/

As for the OP, it depends on the neighbourhood mostly so in Brum prices can range from £100-500K outside Edgbaston. There's also a stat going around the UK with the least number of home owners in decades as it stands

 

[shaz619]

^^^ That would be 30 years to be precise!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/02/homeownership-england-30-year-low/

Home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level for 30 years. The level of home ownership fell to 62.9 per cent last year, the lowest proportion since 1985 and eight points lower than the peak in 2003.

The figures also show that 46.1 per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 do not own a home, up from 24.2 per cent in 2005-06.

 

[Musakhel]

^^^ That would be 30 years to be precise!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/03/02/homeownership-england-30-year-low/

Home ownership in England has fallen to its lowest level for 30 years. The level of home ownership fell to 62.9 per cent last year, the lowest proportion since 1985 and eight points lower than the peak in 2003.

The figures also show that 46.1 per cent of people between the ages of 25 and 34 do not own a home, up from 24.2 per cent in 2005-06.

How do these statistics work If you have your house on mortgage you don't really own it untill your mortgage finishes which is a long time.

 

[shaz619]

How do these statistics work If you have your house on mortgage you don't really own it untill your mortgage finishes which is a long time.

That was the % of people renting privately. One household in five in England is living in private rented accommodation. The total number of privately renting households has swollen by around a million since 2010 to hit a post-1980 high of 4.5 million.

 

[iHammad]

Property tax is fairly high in Texas though

 

[iHammad]

In terms of Canada and specifically GTA, the solution (for now) is simple. Rent.

Just wait until interest rates go up, it'll all come to a halt.

 

[Enigma_]

Sydney has OTT prices.

 

[Specialisttailender]

In terms of Canada and specifically GTA, the solution (for now) is simple. Rent.

Just wait until interest rates go up, it'll all come to a halt.

Interest rate is not going to go up as that would put more people out of reach. That is bad for the government. Interest won't go up enough to make a big difference in market.

 

[Pakistanian]

Property tax is fairly high in Texas though

That's true but's it's not that bad and considering that schools are funded through property taxes and Tx has some of the best school districts in the country, that just shows the money is being well spent.

 

[James]

£129,000 in my area. Managed to pick mine up (newly built) for £108,000. Really nice house - the North of England is a great place to start on the property ladder; equivalent properties in the south would probably cost double or triple.

 

[CricketCartoons]

£129,000 in my area. Managed to pick mine up (newly built) for £108,000. Really nice house - the North of England is a great place to start on the property ladder; equivalent properties in the south would probably cost double or triple.

Mine cost £132,000, but the ones I wanted were 3X expensive. In the outskirts of New Delhi.

 

[James]

Mine cost £132,000, but the ones I wanted were 3X expensive. In the outskirts of New Delhi.

Yeah agree, I want to eventually work my way up to a 3 or 4 bed detached in a more aspirational area. Materialistic Westernised Dream and all that. Happy where I am at the moment though.

 

[DW44]

In ISB, it varies by neighborhood. On average, it's around PKR 50-60 million with places like I-8, G-11 and H-8 having significantly lower property prices(~Rs. 30 million) and places like F-6 through F-11 and G-6 having significantly higher prices (starting at ~80 million, usually well over Rs. 100 million). Then there are outliers like E-7 where even the cheapest house will set you back around Rs. 250 million, and I-10, where you can get a place for under 20 million.

 

[mani1]

Yeah agree, I want to eventually work my way up to a 3 or 4 bed detached in a more aspirational area. Materialistic Westernised Dream and all that. Happy where I am at the moment though.

How much are those going for in Ilkley these days?

Was looking there but the London prices put me off lol.

 

[Haroon786]

In ISB, it varies by neighborhood. On average, it's around PKR 50-60 million with places like I-8, G-11 and H-8 having significantly lower property prices(~Rs. 30 million) and places like F-6 through F-11 and G-6 having significantly higher prices (starting at ~80 million, usually well over Rs. 100 million). Then there are outliers like E-7 where even the cheapest house will set you back around Rs. 250 million, and I-10, where you can get a place for under 20 million.

So you're not in Qatar?

 

[DW44]

So you're not in Qatar?

Qatar/Doha will never be my country/city. Been here less than a month so still mentally in Pakistan anyway. ISB and, to a slightly lesser extent, Peshawar, will always be home.

 

[James]

How much are those going for in Ilkley these days?

Was looking there but the London prices put me off lol.

Like £300k minimum. Obscene.

Remains a place to visit rather than live. lol

 

[Waseem]

Average house price in Melbourne is around $800K which has gone up significantly but still much better than Sydney.

Generally you need 20% despoit to purchase a house so first home buyers are finding it really tough to get into property market.

 

[big_gamer007]

In my area the land would cost around 7-8 crore rupees and then take 3-4 crore to make your bungalow.. Costly as hell these days..

 

[chiku]

$1million-$1.1 million in Richmond, BC.

 

[Nostalgic]

I had to look up the median price in my current domicile, and it was a relatively modest $240,000 or so. The median in the desirable areas is well in excess of that. My neighborhood averages around $360,000, but we expect it to go up once it is fully built up. It was burnt down in 2012 in a huge forest fire.

 

[KingKhanWC]

It's very hard for people now KingKhan, there are a number of criteria which they need to fulfil and remain on a waiting list for a long time. Know of a young family which had to go live in hostels etc in order to help their eligibility when they were finding it hard to make ends meet living in a single room in poor condition. But that option was not on as going to a hostel would also mean living separately. And you've seen how bad the situation is in Brum when it comes to homelessness and rough sleepers, someone past away on the streets last winter as well :/

As for the OP, it depends on the neighbourhood mostly so in Brum prices can range from £100-500K outside Edgbaston. There's also a stat going around the UK with the least number of home owners in decades as it stands

I didn't realise it had gone so bad. One of the great things about the UK is in theory all are given food, clothing and shelter , the basics of life. Our taxes havent gone down so peoples welfare shouldn't either. This is why we need Corbyn.

 

[Justcrazy]

Depends on the location , but where I live its generally 500 K $ and above.

 

[Justcrazy]

View attachment 74008

I've been living in Toronto for 4 years now and an average cost of a home here is $1,000,000. I'm not settled yet, still free-loading of parents money from India and I'm a student. Eventually I like to obtain a PR and buy a house here but the house prices are so ridiculous. House prices have gone up 30% since last year Even if you try to buy a home, there is a bidding system and bidders take the auction to well above the listed price. I have few questions for the heck of it.

1. What is the average price of a home in your city ?
2. What is the value of your house right now ? (optional)
3. How are you looking to tackle this situation ? (Canadians)

Nothing can be done , Government has to take strong action.

Houses should be for living , not for renting out . Goverment should not allow people to buy more than one house , at least for next 5 years.

 

[shaz619]

I didn't realise it had gone so bad. One of the great things about the UK is in theory all are given food, clothing and shelter , the basics of life. Our taxes havent gone down so peoples welfare shouldn't either. This is why we need Corbyn.

Totally agree, housing in general is very bad when it comes to 1st time buyers and the number of council homes which are available; cuts and economy have hindered both.

 

[saeedhk]

Toronto is pretty cheap; around HK$ 6 million for a nice, spacious house.

 

[corneredtiger85292]

Sydney, Toronto, Melbbourne and London i know to be extremely expensive when it comes to housing but you guys need to have a look at Hong Kong..has to be the craziest house market in the world. Insane prices for little shoe boxes out here

 

[Specialisttailender]

Nothing can be done , Government has to take strong action.

Houses should be for living , not for renting out . Goverment should not allow people to buy more than one house , at least for next 5 years.

That is like saying "we should limit our food and send the rest to people in Africa". Everything is being done within the law. I don't see anything wrong with wealthy people purchasing home and giving renting them out. Government can tax the tenant and that is about it. Foreigner purchasers who never see their properties buy by them and sell them for higher cost should be stopped. But they will find ways to purchase through Canadian residents.

 

[Specialisttailender]

Toronto is pretty cheap; around HK$ 6 million for a nice, spacious house.

HK is tiny and there aren't enough land while Canada is the second biggest country in the world with only 35,000,000 people.

 

[ahsan17]

That is like saying "we should limit our food and send the rest to people in Africa". Everything is being done within the law. I don't see anything wrong with wealthy people purchasing home and giving renting them out. Government can tax the tenant and that is about it. Foreigner purchasers who never see their properties buy by them and sell them for higher cost should be stopped. But they will find ways to purchase through Canadian residents.

You don't get it. It is not the foreigners driving up prices in Toronto. That is just a political diversion to find a scapegoat. Most people I know realize this but some have bought it anyway. It is people living in the GTA and the rest of Ontario buying investment properties within the province that is probably the biggest contributing factor, and then the lack of available land for developers. You also have shady realtors who list homes low just to get a bidding war going and to drive the price up over the listing price significantly.

I don't get the logic of why foreigners should not be allowed to buy investment properties but people in Ontario should be. Both of them are looking to rent it out to someone and then sell it later on. Perhaps the fact that the profit will remain in Ontario in one case v/s the other case is a mitigating factor, but even still that doesn't make it so black and white.

Even though there's no logic in it, I can live with people outside Ontario not being able to buying properties. But, investment properties should be taxed a lot more than they are now even for people living in Ontario. The first priority should be people looking to buy a house for themselves. The government policies should work in such a way that those people find it much easier to buy properties than those looking to buy for investment.

 

[Specialisttailender]

You don't get it. It is not the foreigners driving up prices in Toronto. That is just a political diversion to find a scapegoat. Most people I know realize this but some have bought it anyway. It is people living in the GTA and the rest of Ontario buying investment properties within the province that is probably the biggest contributing factor, and then the lack of available land for developers. You also have shady realtors who list homes low just to get a bidding war going and to drive the price up over the listing price significantly.

I don't get the logic of why foreigners should not be allowed to buy investment properties but people in Ontario should be. Both of them are looking to rent it out to someone and then sell it later on. Perhaps the fact that the profit will remain in Ontario in one case v/s the other case is a mitigating factor, but even still that doesn't make it so black and white.

Even though there's no logic in it, I can live with people outside Ontario not being able to buying properties. But, investment properties should be taxed a lot more than they are now even for people living in Ontario. The first priority should be people looking to buy a house for themselves. The government policies should work in such a way that those people find it much easier to buy properties than those looking to buy for investment.

One thing I've learned about Canada is that there is always a way to get what you want done in one way or another. Investors will find ways to flip homes. Laws can be bent. What stops an investor from saying "I'm looking to buy a house to live" and do exactly the opposite ?Condo sales are dominated by foreign buyers and often they purchase them with contacts inside Canada under their Canadian residents' name.

 

[ahsan17]

One thing I've learned about Canada is that there is always a way to get what you want done in one way or another. Investors will find ways to flip homes. Laws can be bent. What stops an investor from saying "I'm looking to buy a house to live" and do exactly the opposite ?Condo sales are dominated by foreign buyers and often they purchase them with contacts inside Canada under their Canadian residents' name.

In theory this should not be too hard. For those living in Ontario and buying such properties under the guise of "I am looking to live there", look at the address on their driver's license and then compare it to the address of the properties under their name. Every property that does not have the same address as the one on their driver's license should be considered an investment property. This should be checked probably every 2-3 months. There are certain circumstances that are an exception, such as buying a house for immediate family members. I am not sure the government keeps track of who is whose immediate family members, but if they do, this should not be too difficult either.

For foreigners, just have a tax like the one they just added.

 

[Justcrazy]

That is like saying "we should limit our food and send the rest to people in Africa". Everything is being done within the law. I don't see anything wrong with wealthy people purchasing home and giving renting them out. Government can tax the tenant and that is about it. Foreigner purchasers who never see their properties buy by them and sell them for higher cost should be stopped. But they will find ways to purchase through Canadian residents.

They have already implemented extra Tax for foreign buyers.

Government should not make permanent law , but at least try this temporarily for some years , and then see how the situation is. Common people who do not earn much should have access to House , not luxurious ones but at least basic .