Property Transfer Tax and Real Estate

foreign investors: In B.C., purchasers of real estate have to pay property transfer tax; in Ontario, it called land transfer tax, according to Globe and Mail. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some buyers are fudging their status as foreign investors or non-residents, and that some real-estate agents, accountants and solicitors may be casting an uncritical eye on their clients’ self-characterizations. But the federal government at least has to be able to understand how flows of people and money impact home prices. There nothing improper about foreign investors owning land in Canada. These are six- and seven-figure purchases, and disclosure shouldn’t be different from how authorities gather information on payments passing through the banking system. But CMHC and other agencies need a better picture of what happening in the real-estate market. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.