The federal government is extending its ban on foreign home purchasing in Canada, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced in a release Sunday.
The rule, which was first introduced in 2022, will now be extended until the beginning of 2027. It bans foreign nationals and commercial enterprises from buying residential property in Canada, with exceptions for some international students, refugee claimants and temporary workers.
Exemptions watered down ban CMHC data reveals that only two per cent of real estate purchases in 2021 were made by non-Canadians, according to communications obtained by Global News through Access to Information.
A few months after the ban was put into place more exemptions were added. These included students, first-time buyers and properties under $500,000.
I dont think this is enforceable under the current rules.
My landlord is an anonymous person living in China. For all I know they could be some large corporation. I only have a point of contact as a local Chinese owned real-estate company. They gave me the contact info to somone out in BC who they said was the owner.
I had to call with the person in BC when i moved in. that person who is on the lease as the owner, mentioned they where not the owner but the daughter of somone living in China who was the actual owner.
After a Google search they person I had spoken with turns out to be a “wealth and property manager” who apprently handles properties for investors. I suspect they are “the daughter” of a lot of clients looking to own property here.
So with foreign investors owning land via proxies who are themselves working through proxies. How do we even know who owns what anymore?
We need the standard leases to be mandatory and somthing that cannot be modified without exemption provided by a stronger landlord Tennant board.
I wonder if we could then make it so all leases needed to be registered with the board. Eatch requiring a lease recording fee wich could be used to fund the LTB. This whould also give them some power. If a landlord has a bad history, or is not providing proof of ownership they could just deny leasing agreements making landlords unable to rent out properties.
I’ve been curious how this would pan out. It sounds good on paper, even a little populist. Have the effects been studied, especially in say Vancouver and Toronto?
This keeps the US corpos out of residebtial real estate here right?
Kind of? The definition of a residential real estate in the law is narrow. It’s essentially a single detached home. Property that is divided into units aren’t considered residential real estate. So foreigners can still buy townhouses, duplexes, apartments, etc and rent them out for exorbitant prices.
Property that is considered “recreational” is also fair game. What is a recreational property? If it could be listed on Airbnb, it’s a recreational property. So if a single detached home is nearby a ski resort, it’s also fair game for foreign buyers.
Foreigners are also still allowed to buy residential property if they intend to live there, or have a Canadian visa for things like work, school, etc, or are married to someone who isn’t affected by the ban.
If it kind of sounds like this doesn’t do much to deter foreigners from buying property. It’s because it really doesn’t. But don’t worry! Even before the ban, foreign buyers only accounted for 1%-6% of purchases depending on the province. The greedy corpos buying up all the residential real estate have always been Canadian.
Add comment