<story><title>A Little Money Laundering Can Have a Big Impact on Real Estate Prices (2019)</title><url>https://betterdwelling.com/how-a-little-money-laundering-can-have-a-big-impact-on-real-estate-prices/#_</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fartcannon</author><text>The xenophobia is a useful tool to distract from the real problem: investors.</text></item><item><author>kareemm</author><text>I lived in Vancouver from 2009-2018 and saw the insane price appreciation from money laundering.&lt;p&gt;The main question people asked about the appreciation was: &amp;quot;is appreciation really being driven up by foreign buyers&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Many came to the answer &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;, because foreign home ownership was &amp;quot;only&amp;quot; in the 5-10% range depending on the neighbourhood.&lt;p&gt;This article lays out the case why foreign ownership % isn&amp;#x27;t the right thing to be looking at:&lt;p&gt;1. The goal of a money launderer is to launder as much as possible&lt;p&gt;2. The goal of a home seller is to sell for as much as possible&lt;p&gt;3. If the asset being purchased is a home, incentives between buyer and seller are aligned and prices are higher than the non-laundering market would support (esp if there&amp;#x27;s another launderer who&amp;#x27;s interested).&lt;p&gt;4. Since the market for home prices is based on comps, a few launderers can raise market prices substantially&lt;p&gt;5. Lather, rinse, repeat&lt;p&gt;The foreigner question was the wrong one to ask, though certainly a large part of the market was driven by foreign investment.  The right question to ask -- and the problem to guard against -- was: &amp;quot;what&amp;#x27;s the impact of laundered money on the market&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;BC added the foreign buyer&amp;#x27;s tax of 15% in 2016[1].  But beneficial ownership laws come into effect on November 30 of this year[2].  The former created a slight disincentive for foreigners laundering $$ to buy. But turns out what was really needed to slow the tide of illegal money flowing into housing was more transparency and disclosure rules.&lt;p&gt;[1] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;financialpost.com&amp;#x2F;personal-finance&amp;#x2F;mortgages-real-estate&amp;#x2F;b-c-to-bring-in-additional-15-per-cent-real-estate-tax-on-foreign-buyers-in-vancouver-in-effort-to-rein-in-high-home-prices&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;financialpost.com&amp;#x2F;personal-finance&amp;#x2F;mortgages-real-es...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mondaq.com&amp;#x2F;canada&amp;#x2F;real-estate&amp;#x2F;988830&amp;#x2F;bc-real-estate-beneficial-ownership-disclosure-law-takes-effect-november-30-2020&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mondaq.com&amp;#x2F;canada&amp;#x2F;real-estate&amp;#x2F;988830&amp;#x2F;bc-real-est...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dimitrios1</author><text>Placing the interests of your homeland and neighbors first over foreigners is not xenophobia.</text></comment>
<story><title>A Little Money Laundering Can Have a Big Impact on Real Estate Prices (2019)</title><url>https://betterdwelling.com/how-a-little-money-laundering-can-have-a-big-impact-on-real-estate-prices/#_</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>fartcannon</author><text>The xenophobia is a useful tool to distract from the real problem: investors.</text></item><item><author>kareemm</author><text>I lived in Vancouver from 2009-2018 and saw the insane price appreciation from money laundering.&lt;p&gt;The main question people asked about the appreciation was: &amp;quot;is appreciation really being driven up by foreign buyers&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;Many came to the answer &amp;quot;no&amp;quot;, because foreign home ownership was &amp;quot;only&amp;quot; in the 5-10% range depending on the neighbourhood.&lt;p&gt;This article lays out the case why foreign ownership % isn&amp;#x27;t the right thing to be looking at:&lt;p&gt;1. The goal of a money launderer is to launder as much as possible&lt;p&gt;2. The goal of a home seller is to sell for as much as possible&lt;p&gt;3. If the asset being purchased is a home, incentives between buyer and seller are aligned and prices are higher than the non-laundering market would support (esp if there&amp;#x27;s another launderer who&amp;#x27;s interested).&lt;p&gt;4. Since the market for home prices is based on comps, a few launderers can raise market prices substantially&lt;p&gt;5. Lather, rinse, repeat&lt;p&gt;The foreigner question was the wrong one to ask, though certainly a large part of the market was driven by foreign investment.  The right question to ask -- and the problem to guard against -- was: &amp;quot;what&amp;#x27;s the impact of laundered money on the market&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;BC added the foreign buyer&amp;#x27;s tax of 15% in 2016[1].  But beneficial ownership laws come into effect on November 30 of this year[2].  The former created a slight disincentive for foreigners laundering $$ to buy. But turns out what was really needed to slow the tide of illegal money flowing into housing was more transparency and disclosure rules.&lt;p&gt;[1] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;financialpost.com&amp;#x2F;personal-finance&amp;#x2F;mortgages-real-estate&amp;#x2F;b-c-to-bring-in-additional-15-per-cent-real-estate-tax-on-foreign-buyers-in-vancouver-in-effort-to-rein-in-high-home-prices&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;financialpost.com&amp;#x2F;personal-finance&amp;#x2F;mortgages-real-es...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] - &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mondaq.com&amp;#x2F;canada&amp;#x2F;real-estate&amp;#x2F;988830&amp;#x2F;bc-real-estate-beneficial-ownership-disclosure-law-takes-effect-november-30-2020&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.mondaq.com&amp;#x2F;canada&amp;#x2F;real-estate&amp;#x2F;988830&amp;#x2F;bc-real-est...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cascom</author><text>I think I’m the Vancouver case  foreign buyer is highly correlated with money launderer (capital control kind rather than illicit gains)</text></comment>