From 8 Jan, foreign nationals will be banned from buying homes in Canada for the next two years, a move aimed at tackling the shortage of houses and apartments in the country.
Exceptions will be made for refugees or permanent residents, and the law only applies to residences in towns and cities and not tourist facilities such as summer chalets.
This law was first proposed during the 2021 Canadian elections by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. His Liberal Party deplored that foreign investors were driving prices up, making it difficult for Canadians to access property. The new law was first adopted in the spring.
Experts have expressed their concerns about the new law, stating that the new law will be ineffective. According to statistics from Canada’s national statistics agency, foreigners make up less than 5% of homeowners in Canada.
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Furthermore, the real estate market has slowed by itself in recent months as a result of interest rate hikes declared by the Central Bank in order to curb inflation. According to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), the average house price was CA$630,000 (€590,000) last month, down from CA$800,000 (€749,000) a year ago.
The CREA says that a more efficient policy would be to accelerate the construction of new homes within the country. This year, just over 160,000 homes and apartments were built in Canada, according to statistics from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
