Foreigners can still buy homes until Feds decide when ban will take effect in Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton and across Canada

Foreign investors can continue to buy homes in Mississauga, Brampton, Hamilton and across Canada until the federal government decides when its just-announced two-year ban on such transactions will take effect.

As part of its budget plan for affordable housing, Ottawa announced on Thursday (April 7) its intention to ban foreign home buying in Canada–with several exceptions–for 24 months in a bid to cool off a hot housing market.

However, government officials did not indicate when the ban would take effect.

Contacted by email today (April 8), a spokesperson with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the federal government’s housing agency, referred insauga.com to the Budget 2022 document.

The budget document, a portion of which follows, does not specify when any ban would officially be in place.

“To make sure that housing is owned by Canadians instead of foreign investors, Budget 2022 announces the government’s intention to propose restrictions that would prohibit foreign commercial enterprises and people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from acquiring non-recreational, residential property in Canada for a period of two years,” the statement from the document reads.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland took a number of measures to tamp down speculation and demand amid record home prices in announcing the federal budget for the year.

The 24-month ban on foreign home buying doesn’t apply to students, foreign workers or foreign citizens who are permanent residents of Canada.

Canada is home to one of the developed world’s most expensive housing markets. Home prices in Canada have soared more than 50 per cent over the past two years.

Real estate experts offered mixed reactions when discussing the potential impacts of the ban on the market.

Ottawa, meanwhile, said it will continue to oversee what impacts foreign money is having on housing costs across the country and it stands ready to strengthen the ban if necessary.