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<\/a>Photo: James Bombales<\/em><\/p>\nHomeownership in Canada has been a hot topic within the 2021 federal election as the national housing market continues to see<\/a> rising property prices and falling supply. With voting day less than a month away, the country\u2019s major political parties have each laid down their strategies to mitigate the country\u2019s chronic housing market problems.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the Liberal government announced their official housing plan<\/a>. If re-elected, the party would introduce a number of measures aimed at boosting home ownership and supply, including adding 1.4 million homes, rent-to-own projects and the creation of a Home Buyers\u2019 Bill of Rights that would place a ban on blind bidding.<\/p>\n \u201cOwning a home shouldn\u2019t be out of reach and renting shouldn\u2019t be so expensive for young Canadians,\u201d said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a party statement<\/a> on Tuesday. \u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be losing bidding wars when they see houses sitting empty next door. Or having to move hundreds of kilometers away from their communities just to pay their rent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n The Liberal\u2019s housing plan also details the temporary ban of new foreign ownership<\/a> for the next two years in a move to \u201censure Canadians have more access to purchasing homes.\u201d A national tax on non-resident, non-Canadian owners with vacant and underused housing, which was first outlined in the<\/a> 2021 Budget, would be expanded to include foreign-owned vacant land in urban areas.<\/p>\n Plans to control foreign property ownership have also been reported across the other two major party platforms this election. Erin O\u2019Toole\u2019s Conservatives pitched a similar policy to the Liberals in their platform released last week<\/a>, which would bar foreign investors who are not living in or moving to Canada from purchasing homes for a two-year period. If elected, Jagmeet Singh\u2019s NDP party would see the implementation<\/a> of a 20 per cent foreign buyers tax on residential property purchases made by foreign corporations or people who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada.<\/p>\n To understand more about the real estate industry\u2019s reaction and insights to the Liberal\u2019s newly-released foreign home ownership plan, Livabl<\/em> spoke with Michael Ferreira, managing principal of Urban Analytics<\/a>, to get his thoughts on the policy. Urban Analytics is a market intelligence company that provides new multi-family and rental apartment project data to industry stakeholders in multiple Canadian cities.<\/p>\n Livabl: If re-elected, the federal Liberal government says that they would ban new foreign home ownership for two years. What is your general take and reaction to this proposed policy?<\/strong><\/p>\n Michael Ferreira: Frankly, this reeks of uninformed politics, of a Prime Minister trying to win a majority by any means necessary, even at the expense of stirring up xenophobic sentiments towards foreigners or immigrants from visible minorities who are able to purchase homes in Canada.<\/p>\n Our ongoing research and feedback from market stakeholders indicates that as has been the case since the start of 2020. The overwhelming majority of current homebuyers are local and are either Canadian citizens or have permanent residency status.<\/p>\n L: What has been the reaction from the real estate community on this policy, particularly in large urban centres such as Toronto and Vancouver?<\/strong><\/p>\n MF: There has been a proverbial shake of the head at why this policy would be suggested now given the very limited amount of foreign buyer influence in our markets over the past 18 to 20 months.<\/p>\n Many also question the rationale behind the substantially increased targets for new immigrants to the country over the next three years while also restricting foreign purchasing during this time. If they\u2019re not going to allow these new immigrants to purchase until they become citizens or obtain their PR status, they\u2019d be well-advised to develop a plan to significantly increase the rental housing supply, which is already virtually non-existent in the markets most new immigrants look to settle in.<\/p>\n