[hiyou102]

As a student in Vancouver this worries me. It think it's about time either the city or metro Vancouver started putting forward some absentee homeowner legislation. We have a lot of talented young people that are leaving to places like Calgary and Seattle because the Vancouver doesn't have the opportunities to support them.

[eps]

That time was 10 years ago. The government has no reason to put such legislation in place, because it lives off taxes on empty buildings and because it would crash the f#ck out of RE market if they turn their back on Chinese money and it starts flowing out.

[hackerboos]

There are policies that can be gradually brought in that wouldn't crash the market.

Firstly, you make it more expensive to own an empty home. In my home city in the UK, landlords are no longer able to claim council tax discounts for empty properties after 6 months. If your home is vacant. You pay up.

Secondly, you incentivise rentals through tax breaks to landlords.

Finally, you have to push prices down. After all, rising prices is why foreigners own these assets in the first place.

- Stop foreign ownership of more than 50% of a building. That way, projects still get funded and locals get housing.

- Increase stamp duty taxes on foreigners purchasing homes

- Use the money you gain in tax revenue to fund cheaper real estate building for locals

- Any other real estate can only be bought by foreigners if they are locally resident in BC for a year or more

What is really outstanding with all of this though is that Canadians cannot own property in Hong Kong (lease only, lots of Government owned real estate) and cannot own property in the PRC without meeting residency requirements. Why should Canada treat people differently?

That being said I don't think any of this is possible with the likes of NAFTA.

[thecambie]

When I was finishing school, there was also lot of fear post tech bubble, and we were probably mid housing runup (although I didn't know it yet). I guess my only advice is, don't count on other people to fix problems. If you focus on your own skills - always be coding, always be learning - I think you'll do fine here or elsewhere.

We are not Seattle, nor SF, nor NY, nor London. Each city offers their own mix of good, bad, and ugly, and you need to determine which city provides the right mix for you. I'm from Ontario, but that right mix is Vancouver for me right now.

My parents immigrated to Canada and worked their asses off during a recession with a 20% interest rate on their mortgage. I'm sure the media said the sky was falling then as well. I always remembered how hard they had to work, so I learned that we cannot take things for granted. Internet commenters complaining about kids half my age with lambos? Not my problem - I have more constructive things to do.

If you are willing to fight to the good fight and enter politics to make positive change for the amazing city we all want it to be, I will vote for you!

[pekk]

> If you focus on your own skills - always be coding, always be learning - I think you'll do fine here or elsewhere.

People who just code and learn don't automatically get work. You need a network to get work. Some places make that much harder to acquire. It's good if you're doing well, but we are talking about people potentially wasting years of life in places which make it fundamentally harder for them because they were poorly advised that learning will somehow get you constant work no matter where you are.