Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of the Treasury Chrystia Freeland will present the budget on Thursday, April 7, 2022. The Trinto government has reportedly kept its commitment to ban foreign home buyers. The two-year ban will be announced in Thursday’s budget. CTV News reports that it is part of a strategy aimed at improving the affordability of housing. The ban will apply to apartments, flats and single-family homes – permanent residents, students and foreign workers will be excluded, along with foreigners buying a main residence in Canada. Policy change will come with the teeth. It will include legislation that gives the government the power to impose sanctions and possible judicial powers to deal with non-compliance. The Liberals platform in the last election included a commitment to better regulate the role of foreign buyers in the Canadian housing market. BC introduced a tax on speculation and vacancies in 2018 to try to limit the influx of people from outside the province who buy real estate but do not live in it for most of the year. It is collected annually in many parts of Lower Mainland, South Vancouver Island and Kelowna and West Kelowna. CTV News reports that another pillar of the budget plan to be announced in the budget is a new Tax-Free First Home Savings Account that would allow people under the age of 40 to save up to $ 40,000 on a first home. There will also be $ 4 billion for municipalities to update site and licensing procedures to speed up housing, $ 1 billion for affordable housing, and $ 1.5 billion for cooperative housing. A report released this week suggested that housing growth restrictions in cities and towns across Canada could be eased through greater cooperation between all levels of government. – with files from CTV News
