Real Estate Talks

Cue the racism in 5....4......3...

http://business.financialpost.com/news/ ... =8d46-decf
Chinese investors have won one of the most important commercial real estate auctions in Vancouver history, swooping in to grab a controlling interest in all four towers of the Bentall Centre.Sources confirmed to the Financial Post that Anbang Insurance Group Co. Ltd., a Beijing-based company with a reported US$114 billion in assets, is buying what amounts to a 66 per cent stake in Bentall I, II, III and IV — a sprawling commercial 1.5-million-square-foot office complex, with some retail, in the heart of Vancouver.

the communists are coming!!!!

Why would this cue racism?

Its public, its disclosed, its a business transaction.

This deal is an antithesis to the way our residential market operates.

Sounds like the price was right.

Where are the headlines for the German consortium that just bought a schwackload of property recently.

Due to our Canadian currency being so low, real estate is heavily discounted for foreign investors. It is fair to assume we should expect more of this for 2016.

If your someone in the selling position, use the cash flow and diversify in other investments(mutual funds/bonds/public market). Other than that, keep buying real estate, and maintain that cash flow!

Sounds like the price was right.

Where are the headlines for the German consortium that just bought a schwackload of property recently.

it's not news (propaganda)

they aren't Chinese

http://business.financialpost.com/news/ ... =e91f-8e6a

that one made the news also - they even told us his name.

Not that anybody would have a clue who any Chinese billionaire is. China - the citizens all look the same, sound the same, nobody has a clue about anybody that comes from there.... reminds me of:

Sounds like the price was right.

Where are the headlines for the German consortium that just bought a schwackload of property recently.

most of it is jealousy

Sounds like the price was right.

Where are the headlines for the German consortium that just bought a schwackload of property recently.

most of it is jealousy

look up one post - there is your headline.

Glad I could help.

It's not racism. It could be Irish people for all we care. The issue is that foreign ownership is pushing up RE costs and hollowing out our economy by making it too expensive to hire local people to create non RE based businesses.

It's not racism. It could be Irish people for all we care. The issue is that foreign ownership is pushing up RE costs and hollowing out our economy by making it too expensive to hire local people to create non RE based businesses.

I think the issue is more that local ownership is pushing up prices making it unaffordable for foreigners to move here and start contributing. Or is it foreigners pushing up prices making it difficult to attract...foreigners. Meesa so confused!

It's the "how" wealthy Chinese immigrate.
Hide income and pay no taxes. Leave homes empty.
Avail themselves to every subsidized program by showing low income.
There isn't another culture that immigrates in such a way.
None of us believe this kind if immigration is healthy - whether it raises house prices or not.

It's not racism. It could be Irish people for all we care. The issue is that foreign ownership is pushing up RE costs and hollowing out our economy by making it too expensive to hire local people to create non RE based businesses.

It's the "how" wealthy Chinese immigrate.
Hide income and pay no taxes. Leave homes empty.
Avail themselves to every subsidized program by showing low income.
There isn't another culture that immigrates in such a way.
None of us believe this kind if immigration is healthy - whether it raises house prices or not.

It's not racism. It could be Irish people for all we care. The issue is that foreign ownership is pushing up RE costs and hollowing out our economy by making it too expensive to hire local people to create non RE based businesses.

I agree with most of what both of you are saying. It seems undeniable that the relatively recent wave of foreign buyers has had at least some impact on home prices, but ridiculously cheap mortgages look like a big factor too. The wealthy foreign buyer issue might account for the ever widening gap between desirable and less desirable neighbourhoods and that has destroyed a lot of dreams of upward mobility, but now even the rougher parts of the city are out of reach for many new entrants to the market and that appears to be unsustainable as well as socially undesirable.

It's easy to point at one single culture when ostentatious displays of wealth and aggressive tax avoidance techniques appear to be an unfortunately common part of that culture, but that showy behaviour often applies to people of most cultures when those people are raised out of poverty and have their first taste of wealth. I think a lot of it might be based on the insecurity associated with coming to a new country with a different language and where you are a visible minority.

The abuse of social programs is unacceptable regardless of race or culture. To suggest that only one group has been doing it in Canada is absurd. There is another very large group of immigrants in BC who are also stereotyped as being well aware of every rule and subsidy they can take advantage of, and many of them rarely miss any opportunity to benefit from our generous social programs. Regardless of how commonly the members of a visible group behave that way, the negative stereotypes should not be applied to individuals without evidence. It seems to be an unfortunately common part of human nature to take advantage of freebies whilst avoiding charges, particularly when the charges (or taxes) are so easily avoided.

I remember that in the 1970s my own people, the Brits, were notorious for arriving in Canada and milking every social benefit they could. Not all Brits did that, some (I hope most) were very morally aware, were grateful to be here, and contributed in major ways to this country. Suggesting that only one group engages in selfish abuse of our programs is simply not true.

Such abuse is obviously a problem and it is all the more annoying when abuse of social programs goes hand in hand with highly visible signs of luxury lifestyles. It is something which should be aggressively addressed wherever it happens, regardless of race or culture.

One last point. The problem is not race based, it is culturally based. Some cultures are horrible but good people often emerge from horrible cultures, just as horrible people often emerge from good cultures. Better to judge people on what they have done as individuals rather than what has been done by others who happen to look like them.

It's the "how" wealthy Chinese immigrate.
Hide income and pay no taxes. Leave homes empty.
Avail themselves to every subsidized program by showing low income.
There isn't another culture that immigrates in such a way.
None of us believe this kind if immigration is healthy - whether it raises house prices or not.

It's not racism. It could be Irish people for all we care. The issue is that foreign ownership is pushing up RE costs and hollowing out our economy by making it too expensive to hire local people to create non RE based businesses.

I agree with most of what both of you are saying. It seems undeniable that the relatively recent wave of foreign buyers has had at least some impact on home prices, but ridiculously cheap mortgages look like a big factor too. The wealthy foreign buyer issue might account for the ever widening gap between desirable and less desirable neighbourhoods and that has destroyed a lot of dreams of upward mobility, but now even the rougher parts of the city are out of reach for many new entrants to the market and that appears to be unsustainable as well as socially undesirable.

It's easy to point at one single culture when ostentatious displays of wealth and aggressive tax avoidance techniques appear to be an unfortunately common part of that culture, but that showy behaviour often applies to people of most cultures when those people are raised out of poverty and have their first taste of wealth. I think a lot of it might be based on the insecurity associated with coming to a new country with a different language and where you are a visible minority.

The abuse of social programs is unacceptable regardless of race or culture. To suggest that only one group has been doing it in Canada is absurd. There is another very large group of immigrants in BC who are also stereotyped as being well aware of every rule and subsidy they can take advantage of, and many of them rarely miss any opportunity to benefit from our generous social programs. Regardless of how commonly the members of a visible group behave that way, the negative stereotypes should not be applied to individuals without evidence. It seems to be an unfortunately common part of human nature to take advantage of freebies whilst avoiding charges, particularly when the charges (or taxes) are so easily avoided.

I remember that in the 1970s my own people, the Brits, were notorious for arriving in Canada and milking every social benefit they could. Not all Brits did that, some (I hope most) were very morally aware, were grateful to be here, and contributed in major ways to this country. Suggesting that only one group engages in selfish abuse of our programs is simply not true.

Such abuse is obviously a problem and it is all the more annoying when abuse of social programs goes hand in hand with highly visible signs of luxury lifestyles. It is something which should be aggressively addressed wherever it happens, regardless of race or culture.

One last point. The problem is not race based, it is culturally based. Some cultures are horrible but good people often emerge from horrible cultures, just as horrible people often emerge from good cultures. Better to judge people on what they have done as individuals rather than what has been done by others who happen to look like them.

Great post.

Its a shame so many locals cannot, or will not, distinguish between culture and race. Other take it steps further by shutting the conversation down claiming racism at every step.

The modern Chinese culture is absolutely incompatible with western ideals. Even that in itself wouldn't be an issue, if the immigrants were more cognizant of this and chose to leave the undesirable parts of their culture behind.

The famous bull defence of years past was "entitlement." Eg; were not entitled to a house in Vancouver. To this I say, high net worth individuals from abroad, that use complex accounting structures to hide millions (billions?) of wealth in order to abuse local tax payer funded social systems are the definition of entitled.

At what point are locals willing to stand up and figure out whats going on?

Apparently being left homeless, or unable to make ends meet, or pay for a millionaires welfare check is not motivation enough.

I agree with you Rofina.

A few pages ago on this thread or another one I also said that other races or cultures are laundering money or scamming our local systems (medical, welfare, GST cheques, not paying income tax, avoiding PTT, avoiding capital gains tax, claiming principle resident status on a home sale even though they don't live here, etc.)

The problem is locals don't care as long as their homes are going up in value!! Ask any home owner if we would get rid of current foreigners who abuse our local systems & taxes & ban foreign ownership IF this would cause their home values to drop 30% - 50% in the process. Ask Eyesthebye or any of the other bull owners on this blog if they wants this. Somehow I doubt it.

I want this because it will bring house prices down & give the future generation (my kids) a chance to buy something. The problem is too big now. This solution would cause a lot of foreclosures & kill the economy. Canadians have too much mortgage debt. The government should have dealt with this problem 10 years ago before prices & debt levels were too high.