A weekend topic starting with the Globe and Mail in Canada. "One out of every 10 condos built between 2016 and 2017 in the city of Toronto is owned by a non-resident of Canada. And nearly 9 per cent of recently built condos from 2006 to 2017 in the city have had at least one non-resident owner on title, according to a new government data report analyzed by Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University."

"'We are seeing that owning new and expensive property in Canada doesn’t necessarily mean you actually live in the country,' Mr. Yan says of his analysis. 'It’s illustrative of the global consumption of local residential real state, and how Toronto and Vancouver are chapters in the emerging new story of Canadian housing.'"

"In metro Toronto, there were 66,240 properties worth $44-billion involving ownership by at least one non-resident. In Metro Vancouver, by comparison, non-residents participated in the ownership of 58,710 properties valued at $76-billion. In metro Vancouver, the rate of non-resident ownership of new condos is much higher, close to one in five in the city and one in four in some municipalities."

"The industry has definitely come to depend on the foreign buyer, says John Pasalis, founder of Toronto’s Realosophy Realty. The preconstruction condo industry is proof of that dependence. He points out that most local income-earners could afford to pay $1,000 a square foot for an existing condo unit rather than the $1,300 a square foot they’d have to pay for a presale. The non-resident buyer is more likely to take on that 30 per cent extra because they can flip the property as an assignment, prior to completion."

"Mr. Pasalis was not surprised by the data, and fully expects that the numbers are much greater when the inflow of foreign money is factored in. 'That [figure] is purely non-residents. If we think about what percentage is being fuelled by foreign capital, via someone who is a resident here, it’s probably more than double.'"

"Mr. Pasalis says the disheartening part is that government, including the CMHC, didn’t make an effort to obtain accurate data on the forces driving the housing market sooner, before citizens took on more debt in order to attain home ownership."

"'That’s the worst thing,' Mr. Pasalis says. 'What you would have expected from CMHC is, ‘yes, we have done this research, but it doesn’t mean there is no foreign money. These are the problems with the research methodology, and we need to do more.’ They didn’t do that. They came out and said, ‘Our stats say it’s only 4 per cent, so stop complaining about foreign money.’"

"Toronto mortgage broker Ron Butler has been in the mortgage business for 26 years and he always doubted government agencies and politicians who claimed that non-resident ownership was a non-factor. Now that it’s reportedly much more difficult for wealthy buyers to take money out of China, the market is slowing, depending on the neighbourhood."

"'Here’s the ultimate truth: They [non-residents] will stop coming and they are not required to buy. When there are no more buyers and the capital to do the buying is from somewhere else, there are no hand grips on this thing, there’s nothing to grab. It’s a water slide. You keep going till you hit the bottom – because now there’s nobody that would jump on that house for $2-million,' he said."

"Overall, Mr. Butler is optimistic about the Toronto market because the city is benefiting from immigrants who are growing the tech industry and other job markets. But he’s seen short-term consequences in the housing market he finds disturbing. 'Who in the name of God is paying $1-million for a crappy 1,000 sq. ft. World War Two bungalow in a crappy part of town? That’s insane.'"

"Mr. Butler has seen residents become over-leveraged to the point that they are borrowing more and more money. If government had created policies to protect against inflated house prices, they’d have done their citizens a service."

"'I blame the provincial, federal and municipal governments, because when you are busy calling legitimate journalists racist like they were four years ago, you are papering over a problem you will have to live with in the next decade. If you’d just thought of it sooner, imagine how much better off you’d be,' Butler said."

"As to whether the development community has become dependent on foreign capital for financing of projects, Mr. Butler offers a fitting anecdote. An established private lender he knows was invited to a meeting two months ago by a developer of townhouses, on the outskirts of Toronto. The last phase of the project wasn’t selling, so the developer wanted to create a financing program that would offer buyers a two-year interest-free mortgage. The developer would charge more for the townhouses, give the private lender a lump sum and enable her to loan the money without interest."

"'This is how car leases work,' Mr. Butler says. 'You pay too much for the car, and with this, you pay too much for the townhome. This was done a lot in the nineties.'"

"The lender asked the developer and his sales team why their final phase wasn’t selling, considering their previous success. 'Finally, the guy at the end of the table, the sales boss, he says, I’ll give you a really simple answer: ‘there are no more speculators. We’ve got to get the speculators back.’"

From North Shore News. "One house out of every 10 in West Vancouver is owned by foreigners, according to recent data from the federal Canadian Housing Statistics Program. And when it comes to more recent construction, the percentage of foreign ownership is higher – about 15 per cent of all single-detached homes built between 2011 and 2015 are owned by people who don’t declare themselves a resident of Canada for tax purposes."

"Brent Eilers of Re/Max Masters Realty, who sells in West Vancouver’s luxury real estate market, agrees the numbers presented so far are 'probably grossly understated as to the reality of what’s going on.'"

"West Vancouver Mayor Mary-Ann Booth said she’s not surprised by the figures. Booth said she and other councillors first began to ask questions about foreign ownership and lobby the province on the issue several years ago."

"'Prices were starting to go up dramatically. The community was starting to see a lot of empty houses,' she said. 'Vans were showing up with a carload of people looking at houses.'"

"Booth said at the time, she raised the issue with West Vancouver’s Liberal MLA Jordan Sturdy, but was told the province didn’t have any data to support foreign ownership and 'didn’t think it was a problem.'"

"Measures put in place since then have improved the situation, she said. 'I think a number of steps have been taken around ensuring transparency so we can get a true picture and around taxes to discourage foreign speculation in real estate,' she said. 'These are supposed to be people’s homes. If people want to make investment in real estate they can make it in commercial real estate.'"

"'This isn’t about keeping people out,' she said. 'It’s about encouraging people to build a life and pay taxes and send their kids to school and work here. It’s about ensuring people are paying a fair share of taxes and not using our real estate as a safety deposit box with no contributions to the community.'"