The government of Canada has amended the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by the Non-Canadians Act, also known as the foreign buyer ban, in a number of ways to broaden the exceptions to the regulations.

The four amendments to the foreign buyer ban

The Foreign control threshold has now been increased to 10% from 3%.

Purchasing for the purpose of development: The new provision permits non-Canadians to buy residential property if it is being used for development. Formerly, only publicly traded firms were covered by this exclusion.

The ban no longer applies to vacant land: Prior laws prohibited non-Canadians from purchasing unoccupied land that was zoned for residential usage or mixed-use with residential. Now that has been repealed by the Canadian government, non-Canadians are free to acquire unoccupied property allocated for residential use and put it to any use they like.

The ban no longer applies to work permit holders: Those who have a work permit or are authorized to work in Canada are permitted to buy residential property, provided that their permission still has 183 days or more of validity and that they have not already bought more than one residential property.