The foreign investor is Canada’s newsmaker of 2016
The foreign investor is Canada’s newsmaker of 2016
In a year of concrete personalities, the non-resident buyer dominated news cycles
The Canadian Press has named “the foreign investor” as the year’s top business newsmaker, marking the first time since 2003 that the recognition was given to a nonspecific person.
Garnering 37 percent of votes from 27 newsrooms across Canada, the foreign investor trumped the next leading contender for the title, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.
The choice of “foreign investor” as newsmaker of 2016 caps a year haunted by the specter of speculators driving up housing values in Canada’s largest cities. Policymakers in Vancouver notably levied measures on non-residents from buying or transferring property.
“It dictated what happened in other areas of the country,” Dave Bradley, breaking news producer at Newstalk 1010 in Toronto, told The Canadian Press.
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Others took exception to the choice of an anonymous person for the recognition, noting that there were more deserving, concrete personalities. “I would vote for the foreign investor, except she seems to be mythical,” said Douglas Cudmore, the Toronto Star’s senior editor of business, innovation and justice, who thought Unifor president Jerry Dias more appropriate for the title.
In August, the British Columbia government imposed a 15 percent property transfer tax on purchases by foreigners in Vancouver.
Analysts caution against imputing the housing affordability crisis to foreign nationals. “It’s really hard to argue that it’s the major reason that prices are increasing,” Andrew Scott, a senior market analyst for the Greater Toronto Area at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp, said. “There’s lots of other things that are going on at the same time. It’s definitely a factor though. I’m not saying it’s insignificant … but it’s definitely not the major force that some people think it is.”
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Source: Property Report