Foreign Buyers will not be able to purchase residential real estate in Canada for a period of 2 years starting on January 1, 2023. This legislation was created to reduce foreign money coming into Canada to buy residential real estate, to establish penalties for anyone who helps a non-Canadian to violate this law, to cool the hot housing market from earlier this year, and to keep more housing inventory available for local Canadians to buy. Here's what you need to know:
This will affect:
- Foreign Buyers = Non-Canadian citizens and Non-Canadian Permanent Residents
- Corporations and/or Entities owned by Foreign Buyers
Exempted from the ban are:
- Canadian citizens and permanent residents
- International students who meet certain requirements (ie: having spent the majority of the previous five years in Canada), can purchase a property for no more than $500,000.
- Workers who have worked and filed tax returns in Canada for at least three out of the four years before purchasing residential property
- Diplomats, consular staff, and members of international organizations living in Canada.
- Foreign nationals with temporary resident status which includes people fleeing conflict and refugees
Other Exemptions:
- Buildings containing more than three-dwelling units and recreational property (ie: cottages, cabins, and other vacation homes)
- Doesn't apply when someone acquires the property through divorce, separation, gifting or death; when a dwelling unit is rented to a tenant who will occupy the unit; or when the acquisition is the result of exercising a security interest or secured right by a secured creditor
