FSW WORLDWIDE

[guelphite]

I'm not very knowledgeable about the housing crises in Canada but I'm trying to understand why is this problem exacerbated to this level? Can't they build more houses to overcome this? And how does this tie back to immigration?

There are both supply and demand issues.

Supply: we have not built nearly enough houses for how much population growth we have had. This is mostly due to terrible government policies at local level that add a bunch of taxes and time-intensive approval processes to new development. Zoning is also an issue - developers are prevented from building denser housing in cities because of it. Provincial and federal governments have the power to address these causes but have not done so. Of course high immigration has exacerbated this problem.

Demand: Canada has very lax policies on investors in the housing market. This is an issue for both domestic and foreign investors. Many countries do not allow foreign non-resident investment in real estate but Canada does and has few restrictions on it. Also, many permanent residents come from wealthy families and receive huge gifts from parents to buy property, so just preventing foreign non-resident ownership would not remove foreign money from the system. Domestic investors are also a huge problem - many boomers own multiple properties and are essentially hoarding houses that young people need. There are tax incentives for investors - no capital gains tax on primary residences, and property taxes are very low on second, third houses. Finally, there are low interest rates, which increase demand by lowering carrying costs.

Both are very important. I think the supply issue is primary. If the government suddenly penalized domestic and foreign investors (demand-side policies) by increasing taxes on investment properties and forbidding foreign non-residents from owning property, they could certainly push house prices down. Obviously raising rates would do the same in the short term. But due to the supply issues anything that pushed investors to sell their houses would raise rents by removing rental supply.

 

[Psyoptica]

There are both supply and demand issues.

Supply: we have not built nearly enough houses for how much population growth we have had. This is mostly due to terrible government policies at local level that add a bunch of taxes and time-intensive approval processes to new development. Zoning is also an issue - developers are prevented from building denser housing in cities because of it. Provincial and federal governments have the power to address these causes but have not done so. Of course high immigration has exacerbated this problem.

Demand: Canada has very lax policies on investors in the housing market. This is an issue for both domestic and foreign investors. Many countries do not allow foreign non-resident investment in real estate but Canada does and has few restrictions on it. Also, many permanent residents come from wealthy families and receive huge gifts from parents to buy property, so just preventing foreign non-resident ownership would not remove foreign money from the system. Domestic investors are also a huge problem - many boomers own multiple properties and are essentially hoarding houses that young people need. There are tax incentives for investors - no capital gains tax on primary residences, and property taxes are very low on second, third houses. Finally, there are low interest rates, which increase demand by lowering carrying costs.

Both are very important. I think the supply issue is primary. If the government suddenly penalized domestic and foreign investors (demand-side policies) by increasing taxes on investment properties and forbidding foreign non-residents from owning property, they could certainly push house prices down. Obviously raising rates would do the same in the short term. But due to the supply issues anything that pushed investors to sell their houses would raise rents by removing rental supply.

Thanks for this very informative post.

 

[Santaclause]

Express Entry applications
Last updated: August 10, 2021
Canadian Experience Class applications
We’re working at full capacity to process applications.
You may experience delays because we have a backlog of applications due to COVID-19.
We’re currently finalizing most applications we received between
December 13 and 19, 2020 ?
If your application is complex, it may take us longer to process it.
All other Express Entry applications

• We have limited capacity to process applications and you may experience a delay.
• If your application was approved on or before March 18, 2020, and your COPR has expired, you must follow these instructions.

 

[BlindGoku]

Express Entry applications
Last updated: August 10, 2021
Canadian Experience Class applications
We’re working at full capacity to process applications.
You may experience delays because we have a backlog of applications due to COVID-19.
We’re currently finalizing most applications we received between
December 13 and 19, 2020 ?
If your application is complex, it may take us longer to process it.
All other Express Entry applications

• We have limited capacity to process applications and you may experience a delay.
• If your application was approved on or before March 18, 2020, and your COPR has expired, you must follow these instructions.

Let's see the update next week, basically moved a month in a week
Last week (Aug 3), the update was from November 15 and 21, 2020

 

[aseemrastogi2]

Express Entry applications
Last updated: August 10, 2021
Canadian Experience Class applications
We’re working at full capacity to process applications.
You may experience delays because we have a backlog of applications due to COVID-19.
We’re currently finalizing most applications we received between
December 13 and 19, 2020 ?
If your application is complex, it may take us longer to process it.
All other Express Entry applications

• We have limited capacity to process applications and you may experience a delay.
• If your application was approved on or before March 18, 2020, and your COPR has expired, you must follow these instructions.

It'll be interesting to see what comes next as 2021 CEC applications seem to have been processed in parallel or so I think. Wondering whether this aligns to someone mentioning here that the number of CEC COPRs have gone down in the last few days as there were all program draws in Dec 2020.

 

[Jaycejay]

They are now processing the last stretch of CEC applications received last year (November). November and December files would be the quickest for them to get done with because those consecutive all program invites that began in September must have had at least 95% FSW and PNP applicants.

Interesting to see what applications they will focus on in September and especially since they would be virtually done working on study visas. With border re-opening possibility in early September we can have a positive outlook

I mentioned it last week

 

[Caprio]

Almost everybody for this room don turn IRCC staff

 

[Jaycejay]

Apparently they are almost done with all non-complex CEC applications received in 2020; and since they have been concurrently processing 2021 applications with full capacity as well as drastically reducing the CEC invites, I’m optimistic that they would soon focus on outlanders. We have to look forward to the border re-opening to all travelers; good-news awaits all of us soon

 

[Jaycejay]

Almost everybody for this room don turn IRCC staff

Wetin man go do na? Lmao

 

[Tristan-XI]

Silent follower of this thread. I like the optimism here. Hopefully we all smile soon

 

[Lixa]

Hello guys, I need your advice! I just receive an expression of interest from Alberta and I'm not really sure what I should do....
Are they actually processing those profiles? Do I have a chance to speed up my application with this EOI?

I'm waiting here in the pool for 7 months with a good crs score. I'm sure I get an invitation if (and I say if ) there is an all program draw. What would you do? Thx for your advices

 

[Jaycejay]

Hello guys, I need your advice! I just receive an expression of interest from Alberta and I'm not really sure what I should do....
Are they actually processing those profiles? Do I have a chance to speed up my application with this EOI?

I'm waiting here in the pool for 7 months with a good crs score. I'm sure I get an invitation if (and I say if ) there is an all program draw. What would you do? Thx for your advices

What’s your score?

 

[guelphite]

Hello guys, I need your advice! I just receive an expression of interest from Alberta and I'm not really sure what I should do....
Are they actually processing those profiles? Do I have a chance to speed up my application with this EOI?

I'm waiting here in the pool for 7 months with a good crs score. I'm sure I get an invitation if (and I say if ) there is an all program draw. What would you do? Thx for your advices

If you are not in Canada, I would absolutely take it. We do not know when FSW may return.

Congrats!

 

[Lixa]

What’s your score?

544

 

[Jaycejay]

544

Extremely good score. Would land an invite in the very first FSW draw but sadly we don’t know when that would be. If i was in your shoes I’ll grab this current opportunity because a bird in the hand is……………..