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Feds target gap in foreign home buyer data

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

In this federal government’s debut budget, unveiled yesterday, the Liberals allocated $500,000 to Statistics Canada for the purpose of developing ways to collect information about home purchases by foreign buyers.

Industry observers have hotly debated whether, and to what extent, purchasers from abroad might be fueling competitive markets such as Toronto and Vancouver, but the current dearth of comprehensive and reliable data makes it difficult to gauge what role this group really plays. There may be opportunities for the feds to work with their provincial partners on the newly announced initiative, with B.C. already planning to ask home buyers to disclose whether they are Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and if not, their citizenship and country of residence.

The budget noted that consumers use housing market data to inform their home buying and selling decisions, while governments depend on housing market data to formulate effective housing policies. Adding that stable housing markets protect one of the most important investments that middle-class families make, the budget also highlighted earlier measures to reinforce the resiliency of Canada’s housing finance system.

For example, last fall Finance Minister Bill Morneau moved to increase from five per cent to 10 the minimum down payment on the share of a property’s price above $500,000 for government-backed insured mortgages, starting Feb. 15 of this year.

“The Government will continue to closely monitor vulnerabilities related to housing and consumer debt and is prepared to implement further measures, should they be needed,” stated the budget.

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