CMHC Amends Foreign Buyer’s Ban

Effective March 27, 2023, the Federal Government has introduced four key updates to the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act (“the Act”), expanding exemptions to the Act which had riled developers trying to bring new housing projects online.

The Act contained several exemptions to the temporary ban—as covered in a previous article from Boughton—but confusion in the industry and concerns about unintended stifling of new housing starts led to the updates.

The four newly introduced exemptions—in addition to existing exemptions—are:

• New exception for purchases to be used for development purposes
• Reducing constraints on work permit holders
• Increasing corporate foreign control threshold to 10%
• Repealing the provision prohibiting vacant land purchase

While these updates were welcomed by some in the real estate industry, many remain skeptical of the overall impact the Act will have on affordability in the Canada market.

For more information on the Act and its potential impacts, please contact Hugh H. Claxton of our Real Estate Group.