Justine Hunter and Mike Hager, the Globe and Mail, April 9, 2022 (includes comments from BCNPHA CEO Jill Atkey)
Ottawa’s proposed ban on foreign buyers of residential real estate, included in Thursday’s federal budget plan, comes years after some provinces already hit foreign buyers with substantial property purchase taxes. The federal ban now will do little to cool the housing market, British Columbia’s minister of housing predicts, and to temper it, some critics are calling for increased regulation of the arena more broadly.
Real estate speculation by wealthy foreign owners has been blamed for driving housing prices out of reach of many Canadians. But as B.C.’s tracking indicates, the problem is not big enough to really move markets today.
“Foreign purchases are less than 2 per cent of the total market,” David Eby told reporters. “For British Columbians, they shouldn’t expect a dramatic impact, given the measures that we’ve already taken.”
The impact of a ban will be hard to measure, when provincial taxation levels are changing and mortgage rates are rising.