Foreign investors are causing widespread Canadian real estate price hikes, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s party
Foreigners are no longer allowed to buy homes in Canada since Sunday, for a period of two years. This ban aims to address the shortage of apartments and houses in the country. The law, adopted last spring, will only concern residences in town, excluding tourist structures, such as holiday chalets.
The measure was proposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2021 election campaign. His party lamented that foreign investors were causing a general increase in Canadian real estate prices, preventing the most modest citizens from accessing property. .
However, the real estate market has recently slowed under the effect of the increase in interest rates decided by the Central Bank in order to curb inflation. According to the Association of Real Estate Agents of Canada, the average price of a house was around 630,000 Canadian dollars (435,000 euros) last month, against 800,000 (552,000 euros) a year ago.
But some experts doubt the measure will be effective, with foreigners making up less than 5% of homeowners in Canada, according to the national statistics agency. They believe that it would be better to accelerate the construction of new housing to actively address the problem.