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Canadian province tightens rules for foreign buyers in hot real estate market

Xinhua, February 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Canada's western province of British Columbia announced Tuesday plans to start collecting data on foreign ownership in B.C.'s booming housing market.

Starting this summer, the province will force individuals who buy property to disclose if they are citizens or permanent residents of Canada. If they are not, then they have to disclose their citizenship and country of residence.

B.C. Finance Minister Mike de Jong unveiled the plans as part of the province's annual budget. The new measures will apply to individual transferees and directors of corporations involved in the purchase of property.

"What we are trying to do is responding to a concern that has been expressed as well as theories that have been developed around what accounts for admittedly an extremely hot real estate market," said the minister.

Mike de Jong added that the new measures are aimed at increasing the housing stock while improving affordability for people entering the housing market, instead of discouraging foreign investment in B.C.

The Province of B.C. stopped collecting data on foreign purchasers of real estate in 1998. Endi