scepticism, with several experts warning that these policy reforms could backfire.
“There are some Americans who buy property here, but there are a whole lot of Canadians that buy property in the United States and we need to be very very careful that the Americans don’t respond in kind,” said Mike Moffatt, a senior director of policy and innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute, told BNN Bloomberg recently.
While there is limited data available on foreign home buyers in Canada, back in 2017, Statistics Canada found that of all the homes in Vancouver, 4.8 per cent was owned by non-residents, while in Toronto, this figure stood at 3.4 per cent. The agency also said that in the case of Condominium apartments, which remained the most popular housing segment for foreign buyers, non-residents owning 7.9 per cent and 7.2 per cent, in Vancouver and Toronto, respectively.
On the flip side, Canadians continue to remain the top foreign buyers of property in the United States. According to the U.S. National Association of Realtors (NAR), during the 12 months leading up to March 2021, a total of US$4.2 billion was spent by Canadians on American residential real estate, accounting for eight per cent of all non-US citizens or Green Card holders who purchased homes in the country during that period.
Accordingly, Moffatt pointed out that the proposed ban on foreign home buyers could see Canadians with property in Florida, Arizona, Las Vegas, or any other part of the US paying an extra tax. “Globally, we are often the foreign buyers and I don’t think Canadians would be too happy if we were given a taste of our own medicine,” he noted.
