The impact of the Ontario’s Fair Housing on foreign buyers of the province’s real estate has been revealed by the finance ministry.
Foreign buyers of homes in Toronto made up a 7.2% share of all buyers in May 2017 but just 2.5% of buyers in the three months ending in February 2018.
The data, reported by the Globe and Mail, suggests that the fall in foreign buyers is also evident in the Greater Golden Horseshoe where just 1.6% of homes sold were to international buyers at the start of this year compared to 4.7% in the month after the Fair Housing Plan was introduced.
Finance minister Charles Sousa said that the government’s measures have helped calm the market and enable more people to find affordable homes.
But John Pasalis, president of Realosophy Realty Inc. told the Globe and Mail that while the tax has helped affordability in the region, it hasn’t solved the problem of large amounts of foreign investment skewing the market.
