The measure, a campaign promise from Justin Trudeau, aims to address the housing shortage in the country.
Foreigners are banned from buying homes in Canada starting this Sunday for the next two years, a ban meant to tackle the shortage of houses and apartments in the country.
Exceptions are made for refugees or permanent residents, and the law only applies to residences in town and not to tourist structures, such as summer chalets.
This measure had been proposed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2021 election campaign. His Liberal party had deplored that foreign investors were driving up prices, making it more difficult for Canadians to access property. She was adopted in the spring.
Rising interest rates
However, the real estate market has slowed down recently under the effect of the interest rate hike decided by the Central Bank to curb inflation.
According to the association of real estate agents, the average price of a house was 630,000 Canadian dollars (435,000 euros) last month, against 800,000 a year ago.
Some experts doubt the measure will be effective, as foreigners make up less than 5% of homeowners in Canada, according to the national statistics agency. They believe that it would be better to accelerate the construction of new housing.