Ontario might impose foreign buyer's tax to cool real estate market

The real estate market in the Toronto area is wildly hot right now, pricing hordes of prospective buyers out of the market, so Ontario's Finance Minister Charles Sousa is exploring ways to cool it down.

One idea he's considering includes following British Columbia's lead by imposing a foreign buyer's tax, reports the Canadian Press today.

"A year ago I was thinking, 'Let market forces prevail,'" Sousa said, according to the Canadian Press.

"But now I'm concerned about...the ability of people to enter the marketplace. (There are) bidding wars everywhere you go, it appears, and I'm sensitive to that. I'm sensitive to the degree of fast appreciation in the short term and what will that do over the long term."

In November, the province gave land transfer tax rebates to first-time home buyers and upped the land tax transfer rates on homes that sold for more than $2 million.

The average price for a house (including detached homes, townhouses and condos) in the GTA reached $875,983 last month. That's a 28. percent increase since February 2016.