Warm up
—- * * FOR NEW STUDENTS ** ————————————— ————
- What industry do you work in and what is your role?
- What are your responses in your role / position?
- Can you describe to the function of your workplace / company?
- How many departments, how many offices. National or International?
- What are the minimum requirements for employment ie Education or Experience?
- How many opportunities are there to ‘move up the ladder’?
- What is the process for changing job roles ie Interview? Test?
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- Current projects? Deadlines? Opportunities?
- Anything of interest happening?
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1. Canada will ban most foreigners from buying homes for two years and provide billions of dollars to spur construction activity in an attempt to cool off a surging real-estate market. The measures will be contained in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s budget on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter, asking not to be named because the matter is private.
2. The move signals that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is becoming more assertive about taming one of the developed world’s most expensive housing markets — and that the government is growing more concerned about the political backlash to inflation and the rising cost of housing.
3. Home prices in Canada have soared more than 50% over the past two years. The market saw a record monthly increase in February as buyers acted ahead of rate increases by the Bank of Canada, taking the benchmark price of a home to C$869,300 ($693,000).
Why do you think Canada has become such a sought after country to buy a home in?
4. The foreign-buyer ban won’t apply to students, foreign workers or foreign citizens who are permanent residents of Canada, the person said. “I don’t think prices are going to fall as a result, though I do think it takes away at least some of the competition in what is the most competitive market in Canadian housing history,” Simeon Papailias, founder of real estate investment firm REC Canada. “I don’t think a two-year band-aid is going to have an impact on what’s a fundamental lack of supply.”
5. Several billion dollars in Freeland’s budget will be allocated to building affordable housing and to helping local governments update their systems to allow faster construction of new properties. Yet the government plans other measures that could potentially boost demand, ostensibly to help new home buyers. Freeland will introduce legislation that allows Canadians under the age of 40 to save as much as C$40,000 ($31,900) for a home downpayment within a new tax-exempt vehicle, the person said.
What is the Housing situation in Japan, both here in Tokyo and outside Tokyo, are there similarities? Discuss (affordability, availability, historical perspective etc.)
6. During last year’s election campaign, Trudeau’s party also proposed a ban on “blind bidding” for houses — the prevailing system by which offers are kept secret when someone is auctioning a home. Blind bidding has been blamed for accelerating price gains in a hot market, with properties sometimes selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars over the asking price. Some believe that secret bidding forces each potential buyer to offer as much as they can.
7. The industry body for the country’s real estate agents has now backed away from its defense of the practice. The Canadian Real Estate Association announced a pilot project Wednesday to display offers in real time on properties listed on its own listing website, Realtor.ca.
8. “Multiple-offer scenarios have become increasingly commonplace in today’s real estate environment,” Michael Bourque, the association’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Canadian property buyers and sellers seek greater confidence in the process.” The pilot will begin in select markets this summer, the press release said.
