I am standing 40 floors up at the window of Toronto’s few modern(-ish) rental apartment buildings. My host is a venerable and nationally respected financial expert.
We are gazing out at the city condo-scape.
”See that new building,” he says, pointing to one of the high condo towers. “It sold for a loss. Of course, the owners expected to lose on the sale. That’s what happens when you launder money.”
He points to another. “Same thing with that building. Canada, Ontario, Toronto, they’ve all got the welcome mat out for the international money laundering business.”
Now we focus on a condo closer by. “You should see it at night. Just a few lights on. Maybe 5 or 10 percent occupancy.”
”Also money laundering?” I ask, naive in these matters.
He shakes his head. “Maybe 100 percent ownership in the building but most of the condos belong to foreign investors. Canada is a safe place to park money. The investors are prepared to eat the annual condo fees, rather than go to the bother of becoming a landlord and renting out the unit.”
“Doesn’t that eat into their capital gain when they sell?”
“They don’t care. What they’re really looking forward to is recouping their condo fees by selling the unit at a profit. Even that isn’t necessary if they can keep most of their money safe in Canada.”
And so with a real-life slide show out the window, I learned how my city is welcoming money earned by criminal means, as well as foreign investment money injected into the housing market without any intention of either occupying it, or allowing others to do so.
No investigative journalism article from us on this to date. It’s not what we’re qualified to do.
But in passing:
to criminal money launderers . . .
foreign housing market gamblers . . .
and all their enablers at three levels of government, whether the support is through indifference, or active support of business buddies . . .
A heartfelt ‘worst of the holiday season’ to you.
As for Toronto’s renters and home owners, struggling to afford housing, Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, according to your preference. You will need a little good cheer, based on current news.
Read more if you can stomach it, but the headline tells the tale in the Toronto Star: GTA home prices continue to rise as new listings drop
