Full Breakdown
Federal Ban on Foreign Homebuyers Set to Expire in 2027
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The Ban’s Expiration and Its Immediate Context
The federal prohibition on purchases by non-resident buyers ends on January 1, 2027. Analysts are watching to see if the lapse will lift pent-up demand and push prices higher.
How the Ban Came About and Market Trends
The measure was introduced on January 1, 2023 amid rapidly rising home values and bidding wars in Toronto and Vancouver. At the same time, the Bank of Canada raised its policy rate from 0.25 % (March 2022) to a peak of 5 % (July 2023), which also cooled the market. Isolating the ban’s impact is difficult because monetary tightening likely had a larger effect.
Ownership Data for Non-Resident Buyers
Statistics Canada shows non-resident ownership remains a small share of the market. In Ontario, non-residents held about 2.75 % of properties in 2021-2023, slipping to 2.62 % in 2024. In British Columbia the share fell from roughly 4.5 % in 2021 to 3.8 % in 2024. Officials say it is unclear whether the modest declines stem from the ban or from broader pressures such as higher borrowing costs.
Government Review and Official Views
The Treasury Board is slated to review the ban in late 2026. Officials stress that any decision will weigh housing affordability against the need to keep the market open to investment.
Verbatim Quotes
- “It’s been an issue that was a hot topic several years ago, but has since died down quite a bit, and there was a lot of debate whether it was in fact an issue that really had an impact on housing affordability at the time,” — Robert Hogue, assistant chief economist, RBC
- “Canada’s housing market will continue to recover very slowly, and it will likely to be a very bumpy journey.” — Mike Moffatt, founding director, Missing Middle Initiative, University of Ottawa