Also, “foreign real-estate speculators” undercounts what many might consider as such here. This is because a lot of Hong Kong Chinese acquired Canadian citizenship around the time of the handover, and many of these individuals currently reside in Hong Kong. Yet, having Canadian citizenship, they are not considered to be foreigners for purposes of investment statistics.

I'll de-lurk to post this, since I have some first-hand knowledge: They’re always trying to find end-runs around the taxes on speculation, but they have helped. Speculators now often rent out the condos they have speculated on, instead of holding them empty, because the special extra taxes only apply to empty units. (Stratas [the Canadian term for HOA's] cannot under the law any more restrict rentals, like they used to, and like they still do in the USA.) This has resulted in fewer homes sitting around empty during a housing shortage. They're finally starting to get serious about the lack of housing supply here, but things have been so bad for so long that it's going to take decades to un-fuster-cluck the market (because it took decades of bad policy to fuster-cluck it to the current point). Right now I think the local market is coasting on fumes. Housing supply has increased faster than population in recent years, but prices are still going up. Eventually things will correct. The question is by how much. If things go down a lot, it will leave those who paid big bucks (and not all of them are wealthy investors) holding the bag. The price:rent ratio is currently ridiculously in favour of renting. Until that discrepancy corrects, I will continue renting.

Purdy

Probably the last time we see that this year. Remember it well. Today should be the hottest day of the bunch.

A log cabin with a pool. Just like Abe Lincoln!