Time to ditch the foreign buyer ban, says RE/MAX Canada president
“I think if you look at the foreign buyer ban and the negative impact that it had on preconstruction, it took a lot of money out of the market that would have driven more preconstruction, more units coming on the market,” Kottick said.
“So hopefully [if[ that is removed in January, we start to see more investment coming back, which could drive affordability.”
Opinion split on whether ban should remain in place
Mortgage and real estate industry opinion on the ban is divided, with respondents to a recent CMP poll indicating that they thought it should stay in place and other industry experts calling for its removal.
Kottick said he’s not in favour of the federal government intervening in the market. “We’ve had governments that have always tried to bring policy. Policy will never fix the market,” he said. “I think when the government intervenes, we have unintended consequences.
“Hopefully the government has learned a lesson that natural market forces have been more beneficial than any government policy – because there’s always been unintended consequences.”
