The Carney government wants to let non-residents buy newly built homes in Canada again while keeping them out of the resale market until 2029.
asserted
residents → want → 2029
Critics say the carve-out is aimed more at clearing developers’ unsold condos than at making homes more affordable.
asserted
homes → say → condos
Budget 2026, tabled Nov. 5, proposes extending the federal ban on foreign purchases of existing homes by two years, to Jan. 1, 2029, “while exempting new residential properties.”
asserted
Budget → table → properties
The prohibition, introduced by the Trudeau government, took effect in 2023 and was already extended once, in February 2024.
asserted
prohibition → introduce → February
The budget argues the change would keep most of the market available to Canadians while drawing new investment into housing supply.
asserted
change → argue → supply
The budget does not define a “new” home or say when the carve-out would take effect, and Ottawa has said legislation and regulations will follow.
asserted
legislation → define → effect
Provincial levies are untouched: Ontario’s 25 percent non-resident speculation tax and B.C.’s 20 percent tax on foreign buyers still apply.
asserted
tax → apply → buyers
The proposal lands as the preconstruction condo market, long dominated by investors, has seized up.
asserted
market → land → investors
Lenders generally require about 70 percent of a building’s units to be presold before they advance construction financing, as Matthew Alexandris explained in The Hub.
asserted
Alexandris → require → Hub
In Metro Vancouver, finished but unsold condos are worth an estimated $4.4 billion, and more than 80 percent of those units are priced above $1 million.
asserted
percent → estimate → million
Greater Vancouver Realtors reported September sales 8.4 percent below a year earlier and 25 percent below the 10-year seasonal average, with apartment sales down 18.6 percent.
asserted
sales → report → average
Supporters see a financing fix
asserted
Supporters → see → fix
Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist at the B.C. Real Estate Association, told CTV News Vancouver that the measure mirrors Australia’s approach and would help developers secure financing for new supply.
asserted
developers → tell → supply
Major B.C. developers made the same case in a July 2025 letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney.
asserted
developers → make → Carney
Australia itself bars foreign purchases of established homes until mid-2029 while allowing them to buy new dwellings.
asserted
them → bar → dwellings
Lucy Hua, a Toronto-area real estate agent whose clients a decade ago were mostly foreign buyers, told CTV News that developers stuck with unsold projects cannot launch new ones.
asserted
developers → tell → ones
She was unsure whether foreign buyers would return.
asserted
buyers → return → ?
“Only time will tell,” she said.
asserted
she → tell → ?
Mike Moffatt, founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative, has long called for this exemption.
asserted
Moffatt → found → exemption
“While policies chasing foreign investment from Canadian real estate are popular, they have almost certainly contributed to the recent slowdown in condo construction,” he previously wrote in The Hub.
asserted
he → chase → Hub
In that column, he estimated the industry must invest more than $1 trillion to build enough homes by 2030, much of it from abroad.
asserted
industry → estimate → it
In August, he told CTV that an Australian-style exemption “actually creates new supply.”
asserted
exemption → tell → supply
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMCH) estimated in June 2025 that restoring 2019 affordability would require 430,000 to 480,000 new units a year through 2035, roughly double the current pace.
asserted
restoring → estimate → pace
The budget puts 2025 housing starts at 259,028.
asserted
budget → put → 259,028
Critics question the affordability payoff
asserted
Critics → question → payoff
Critics counter that the exemption solves a developer problem rather than a housing one.
asserted
exemption → counter → one
“The federal government is trying to keep the development industry afloat or at least keeping the business going.
asserted
government → try → business
And the question is, how does this help affordability at the end of the day?” Yinnon Geva, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute for Management and Innovation said to CTV.
asserted
Geva → help → CTV
How much foreign money would come back is hard to gauge.
asserted
come → come → ?
Statistics Canada’s figures count non-residents, a category that includes Canadians living abroad, and show them owning a small share of all homes: about 2.2 percent of Ontario residential properties in 2020.
asserted
them → count → 2020
Before the ban, though, that ownership was concentrated in new condos.
asserted
ownership → concentrate → condos
2020 Statistics Canada data showed non-residents at 13.6 percent of new Vancouver condos and 7.7 percent in Toronto.
asserted
data → show → Toronto
Data on who owns Canadian housing remains thin.
asserted
who → own → housing
A federal consultation on restricting large corporate purchases of existing single-family homes closed in December 2024, and no restriction has since been enacted.
asserted
restriction → restrict → December
Whether the exemption reaches presale contracts, the segment where developers need buyers to unlock financing, will depend on how Ottawa defines a new home when the legislation is tabled.
The Carney government has proposed allowing foreign buyers to purchase newly built homes in Canada while maintaining a ban on foreign purchases of existing homes until 2029.
asserted
buyers → reach → 2029
Critics argue this move primarily benefits developers with unsold condos rather than addressing housing affordability.
asserted
move → argue → affordability
The budget, tabled on November 5, 2026, aims to attract investment into housing supply while keeping most of the market available to Canadians.
asserted
budget → table → Canadians
The proposal comes amid a slowdown in the preconstruction condo market, with significant unsold inventory and a soft resale market.
asserted
proposal → come → inventory
The exact definition of ‘new’ homes and the implementation timeline remain unclear.
uncertain
definition → remain → homes
The Aporia
