A year ago, the federal government instituted a foreign buyer ban after passing the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act in 2022. The two-year ban, which came into effect on Jan. 1, barred non-citizens, non-permanent residents and foreign controlled companies from buying up Canadian property as an investment.
But Wallace says that ban didn’t do much for her family.
“There’s all of these very luxurious buildings going in all around us that are outrageously priced,” said Wallace, after attending an open house at a promising $1.1-million condo. “The foreign buyers tax … I don’t think that’s making an iota of difference.”
Critics say the foreign buyers ban, which was aimed at making housing affordable for Canadians, had many exemptions and was more of a political manoeuvre. They say it’s clear housing remains out of reach for too many in Canada, and that the country should look to other places in the world to find strategies to foster home ownership.
By exclussively building single family homes, for the most part you are also forcing someone to require a car. Sure its possible to live in some areas car free, and it is possible to live in suburbia car free, but for the vast majority of Canadian suburbs living car free makes your life significantly harder.
We really need to rethink how we build and zone our cities, spend more space on people and less space on cars. Abolish parking minimums and let the business owner decide their parking requirements. Limit sprawling subdivisions and strip malls and enforce higher densities.