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How does foreign ownership impact Vancouver housing costs?
This is one of the hot questions that will be explored at Simon Fraser University this Wednesday, March 20th, between 7 and 9 p.m. Here’s another question: What are the facts regarding foreign...
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How much foreign ownership in Vancouver? Media has no clue.
Journalists are as clueless as everyone else about how much foreign ownership there is in Metro Vancouver real estate. They’re also revealing they know next to nothing about a related issue — the...
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Vancouver planner Andy Yan fights to prevent a ‘zombie’ city
When Andy Yan talks about the housing crisis in Vancouver, he uses value-laden words such as “citizenship,” “courage” and “sacrifice” as he describes how to make sure this place doesn’t become a...
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Vancouver fourth for foreign-born residents. But is it ‘cosmopolitan?’
How “cosmopolitan” is Metro Vancouver? By some definitions, it’s extremely cosmopolitan. If we define cosmopolitan as “including people of many different countries,” Metro Vancouver is the fourth most...
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What is racism? Most Canadians in a muddle.
“What river separates China from India?” someone asked at a recent social event in Metro Vancouver. Answer: “The Fraser River.” No one laughed. It’s not that kind of a joke. It’s more a lesson in...
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Asians in North America: Success and friction
Edward Yang is about as close to an Asian-American-Canadian as they come. He was born in Washington state, lived for some years in his parents’ homeland of Taiwan, attended high school and university...
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Foreign ownership of Canadian property: More calls for the mystery numbers
Why does Canada not keep public data on investment ownership in real estate, whether by foreigners or homegrown residents? The question is starting to gain more attention than when some of us in B.C....
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In Hong Kong, Metro Vancouver real estate is big news
Ian Young, writing for a Hong Kong newspaper, covers real estate issues in Metro Vancouver with a rare kind of intensity and frankness. Unlike in Metro Vancouver, Young says, Hong Kong newspapers run...
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Hong Kong puts 15 percent tax on foreign buyers. Will B.C. follow?
A new poll shows Hong Kong residents firmly support a recent 15 per cent surcharge on non-residents buying into their real estate market. The tax has been especially effective in reducing speculation...
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England ready to restrict foreign ownership. Will Canada?
Foreign investment in real estate in London, England, is causing massive social upheaval and controversy — and politicians are preparing to do something about it. The Guardian newspaper has published...
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New Yorker Magazine zeroes in on Vancouver’s foreign-ownership problem (update)
UPDATE: The B.C. Chamber of Commerce has recommended charging higher property tax fees on foreign buyers. (Don Cayo, May 23) The latest issue of The New Yorker magazine is targeting an issue that...
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Is the ‘racist’ label being abused in Vancouver’s housing debate? (Update)
An ethnic Chinese newspaper reporter is the latest to challenge the way Metro Vancouver real estate developers and their supporters have long used the “racist” label to muddy debates over the...
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Why Vancouver housing is unaffordable and what to do about it
Edward Yang is sad about the city he grew up in. His parents emigrated from Taiwan to B.C. without much money, yet in the early 1990s they were able to afford a small house in East Vancouver. But Yang...
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Vancouver to collect data on property speculators, empty dwellings
Canada is one of the few countries in the world that does not keep public data on foreign ownership of real estate. But it looks as if Vancouver city council is preparing to do something about it. In...
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The floating lives of affluent transnational migrants
The acclaimed movie Floating Life tells the story of a family of well-off ethnic Chinese who can afford to make connections to cosmopolitan cities around the world, including Vancouver. Seeking...
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Douglas Todd’s most-read posts of 2014
The relationship between immigration and Vancouver housing prices, Shariah law and Joel Osteen were three of the subjects that seemed to most draw readers’ attention in 2014. The 25 most popular blog...
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Who can we trust on Vancouver real estate? (Update)
The surreal cost of housing in Metro Vancouver is the biggest issue facing the city. Yet it’s hard to find people who can fully inform us about what’s really causing it and, therefore, what can be done...
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Finally, we’re debating housing in Metro Vancouver: Five key issues
Metro Vancouver is finally having a debate over housing affordability. It took a few decades. But now it’s here, with all sorts of voices and interest groups chiming in on the factors that go into...
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Nothing racist about Vancouver housing study: Experts
Real estate developers were the first to charge “racism” in the late 1980s when many Metro Vancouver residents objected to old houses being razed and trees chopped down by wealthy newcomers. Now — in...
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Trump not being “racist.” He’s being a “bigot.”
A lot of otherwise intelligent people are using the wrong word to describe Donald Trump’s pledge to ban all Muslims from immigrating to the United States. Vancouver Councillor Kerry Jang is not the...
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