Category Archives: Front Page
Land assembly speculators shadow flipping to skirt foreign buyer tax
By ThinkPol Staff International speculators are buying up Vancouver properties to put together land assemblies that they then shadow flip to avoid paying BC’s foreign buyer tax. A real estate industry whistleblower sent ThinkPol one such example of an attempted
Many Metro Vancouver homes selling for a loss
By ThinkPol Staff Dozens of homes in Metro Vancouver bought in the last two years are currently listed to be sold for a loss as speculators appear to exit Canada’s hottest real estate market. An industry insider sent ThinkPol sales
VISTRO-reported Airbnb listings are disappearing, but who’s behind their removal?
By Nick Valka At least 19 illegal Vancouver Airbnb listings have been taken down after being reported by VISTRO, but the question remains as to who is actually removing them. Vancouver’s Illegal Short Term Rental Operators, known as VISTRO[1]https://twitter.com/vistro11 on
Don’t privatize Canada’s airports ‒ Commons committee
By ThinkPol Staf A Parliamentary committee is recommending against the Liberal government’s plan to sell off Canada’s airports to raise billions in capital to be used towards other public infrastructure projects. “Limit rising passenger and operational costs by preventing the
Foreign buyer tax stabilizes Metro Vancouver home prices – 2018 BC property assessment
By ThinkPol Staff Home prices in areas subject to British Columbia’s foreign buyer tax stabilized while the real estate market frenzy continued unabated in other parts of the province, according to a preview of the 2018 property assessment. Typical detached
Airbnb denies responsibility for hosts’ lawbreaking while hiding data to shield lawbreakers – law prof
By ThinkPol Staff Airbnb and other short term rental platforms refuse to accept responsibility for unlawful actions by their hosts while at the same time shielding the lawbreakers against any meaningful law enforcement by making data impossible to obtain, a
Saudi-led coalition urged to end forced famine which could see millions dying of starvation in Yemen
By Leila Mohammad The blockade of Yemen’s Red Sea ports by the Saudi-led coalition could see millions of children, women and men risk mass hunger, disease and death in the besieged country, according to top UN officials, who are urging
Woman suing Twelve West over rape and cover up speaks up as nightclub denies incident
Editor’s note: The sexual assault survivor in this story has withdrawn their consent to make their identity public. ThinkPol respects their decision to do so, and as such, has decided to remove this story from publication.
Neighbour finds ‘Vancouver special’ turned into commercial Airbnb hotel
By Lisa Tanh An East Vancouver resident has discovered a ‘Vancouver special’ in her neighbourhood that has been turned into a commercial Airbnb hotel. Ulrike Rodrigues, who lives in the Mount Pleasant area, said a nearby Vancouver special “went through
Increasing supply in a housing bubble linked to a bigger crash
By ThinkPol Staff The BC government has promised to tackle the housing affordability crisis in Metro Vancouver by “aggressively” increasing supply. A new study coming out of Princeton suggests that the NDP government may want to reconsider that strategy. In