Starting Monday, homebuyers in Ontario will have to provide more information about their citizenship and place of residence when they buy a piece of real estate anywhere in the province. The government first announced the news in last fall's economic statement, but the new rules come into effect on April 24. Policy-makers have long complained that Canadian data on real estate transactions is rudimentary and lacking compared to other jurisdictions. The question of foreign buyers has been especially controversial of late, as many critics have blamed them for speculation in the housing market, but often without hard data to back up those contentions. The group that represents Toronto Realtors recently estimated that foreign buyers made up about five per cent of all buyers in the city last year.

Source: CBC News April 19, 2017 19:56 UTC