Global Housing

By Leith van Onselen Toronto sellers are rushing to list their homes for sale after a double whammy of government restrictions on foreign buyers and the near-collapse of Home Capital Group Inc.

By Leith van Onselen For years I have argued that Australia should look to Texas to solve Australian housing supply. This view was based primarily on the fact that Texas has been able to achieve stable and affordable housing in the face of extreme population growth (see next chart).

By Leith van Onselen Back in January, Australia’s real estate treasurer, Scott Morrison, traveled to London to gain ideas on how to address housing affordability.

By Leith van Onselen For years I have argued that Australia should look to Texas to solve Australian housing supply. This view was based primarily on the fact that Texas has been able to achieve stable and affordable housing in the face of extreme population growth (see next chart).

Cross-posted from The Conversation: The inequalities and inequities that housing markets generate have become a cross-national issue in the last decade or so.

By Leith van Onselen Some interesting analysis has been released recently showing the inflationary impact that foreign capital is having on international housing markets.

By Leith van Onselen South China Morning Post’s Yonden Lhatoo has clearly had enough of the shoebox apartments being constructed around Hong Kong, penning the following rant: Emperor International Holdings has entered the hall of shame for heartless developers putting profit before people, with plans to build the tiniest homes in the city.

Cross-posted from Medium: Many people find the economics of housing complicated.

By Leith van Onselen Back in June I published a disturbing report aired on SBS Dateline examining the large-scale migration/investment of wealthy Chinese into Canada’s city of Vancouver, which has forced house prices to astronomical levels and left a swathe of empty homes.

From Morgan Stanley: Our new Global Coincident Indicator (MSGCI) points to faster GDP growth of 3.0% in 3Q16 vs.

By Leith van Onselen The latest data from the IMF’s Global Housing Watch reveals that real house prices globally have recovered to 2007 levels, although there is wild divergence between countries: There is a fair bit of cross-country variation, as shown in Figure 2.

By Leith van Onselen British Columbia’s (BC) Premier, Christy Clark, has unveiled a new proposal to levy an additional 15% property transfer tax on foreign buyers in a bid to rein-in runaway housing costs in Vancouver.

By Martin North, cross-posted from the Digital Finance Analytics Blog: The latest Financial Stability report released by the Bank of England provides insights into the UK mortgage market, and some of the concerns the regulators are addressing.

  By Leith van Onselen Yesterday I published a disturbing report aired on Tuesday’s SBS Dateline examining the large-scale migration/investment of wealthy Chinese into Canada’s city of Vancouver, which has forced house prices to astronomical levels and left a swathe of empty homes.

By Leith van Onselen I wrote yesterday how the new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, had spoken-out about foreign investors using homes in London as “gold bricks for investment” following an investigation which found that the UK’s tallest residential skyscraper is now more than 60% foreign-owned and is under-occupied.

By Leith van Onselen The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has spoken out about foreign investors using homes in London as “gold bricks for investment” following an investigation which found that the UK’s tallest residential skyscraper is now more than 60% foreign-owned and is under-occupied.

From Bloomie: Hong Kong property prices have declined and sales are hovering near a 25-year low as the city grapples with the repercussions of a slowing Chinese economy.

By Leith van Onselen The 12th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey has just been released and, once again, it ranks Australia as having one of the most expensive housing markets out of the countries surveyed.

By Martin North, cross-posted from the Digital Finance Analytics Blog: The second consultative document on Revisions to the Standardised Approach for credit risk has been released for discussion.

By Leith van Onselen At last, a comprehensive dataset has proven that demand from Chinese buyers has pushed Vancouver detached house prices to astronomic levels.

By Leith van Onselen For several years now, I have been a passive observer of the Canadian economy and housing market, which has some striking similarities to Australia.