Ontario to tax foreign buyers, expand rent control to cool housing market

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The Ontario government has unveiled a new plan to help tackle the red hot housing market in the Greater Golden Horseshoe.

The province’s Fair Housing Plan is comprised of 16 “comprehensive measures” the government says will help bring stability to the real estate market.

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced in Toronto one of the measures will be a 15 per cent Non-Resident Speculation Tax (NRST) on non-Canadian citizens, non-permanent residents and non-Canadian corporations buying residential properties containing one to six units in the GTHA.

Wynne says the tax is not about targeting immigrants and a rebate would be available for people who subsequently become a Canadian citizen or permanent resident within four years of the date of the purchase.

The province will also expand rent control to all private rental units, including those built after 1991.

Rules for real estate agents will also be reviewed, including practices such as double ending, where the agent represents both the buyer and the seller.

Wynne says the plan will make buying or renting a home a fairer and more affordable process for residents in Ontario.

If legislation passes, the tax would be effective retroactively to April 21.

For more details about the 16 measures in Ontario’s Fair Housing Plan, click here.

The GGH includes the following geographic areas: Brant, Dufferin, Durham, Haldimand, Halton, Hamilton, Kawartha Lakes, Niagara, Northumberland, Peel, Peterborough, Simcoe, Toronto, Waterloo, Wellington and York.