This is a sharp shift from ultralow borrowing costs that helped drive a pandemic price surge. Canada’s average home price soared 50.6% over two years to a record high of $816,720.
In Ontario, where voters go to the polls in early June, Premier Doug Ford last week laid out plans to “cut red tape” on new home construction and to boost the foreign-buyer tax to 20% from 15%, while also expanding it to cover the entire province. While that is a relatively small stake overall, foreign capital plays an outsized role in certain markets, like newer-build Toronto condominiums, and can help drive price escalation, he said.
Ford also said his government would work with cities to establish taxes on vacant homes and on land speculation.