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.
This keeps the US corpos out of residebtial real estate here right? All for it. Things are bad, but they can get much worse.
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.
Yes. Also not, Canadian corpos exist. More work to do
What, you think big investment firms can’t wrangle all the loopholes?