财政部长弗朗索瓦-菲利普·尚帕涅表示，在加拿大针对外国购房者的禁令于年底到期之前，联邦政府正在权衡各种可能的选择。
Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says the federal government is mulling its options ahead of the expiry of Canada’s foreign homebuyers ban at the end of the year.
“我们正在审视摆在面前的所有选项，同时考虑市场走向以及过去几年的情况，”尚帕涅周三在渥太华对记者说。“我们希望确保为加拿大人提供更多住房机会。”前总理贾斯廷·特鲁多的政府于2023年禁止外国人在加拿大购买住宅房地产，但为用于开发的空地以及大型多单元建筑设立了例外。该措施在2024年再次获得延长。
“We’re looking at all the options that we have in front of us, considering where the market is going, what has happened over the last few years,” Champagne told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday. “We want to make sure that we have a higher stock of housing opportunities for Canadians.”Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government banned foreign purchases of residential real estate in Canada in 2023, with exemptions for vacant land intended for development and larger multi-unit buildings. The government renewed the measure in 2024.
这项政策是在疫情期间房价飙升、利率接近零的背景下推出的。然而，数据显示，2020年任何主要加拿大市场中，外国人的房产持有比例均未超过5%。与此同时，开发商则主张，该禁令切断了一笔可用于资助新建住房的资本来源。
The policy was introduced after home prices surged during the pandemic, when interest rates were near zero. But data suggest foreigners owned no more than 5% of properties in any major Canadian market in 2020, while developers have argued the ban cuts off a source of capital that would help fund new housing construction.
该禁令计划于2027年1月1日到期。住房部长格雷戈尔·罗伯逊去年表示，政府将在2026年对该政策进行审查，并研究其他国家的成功模式，例如澳大利亚允许外国人购买新建住宅的做法。
The ban is set to expire on Jan. 1, 2027. Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said last year the government would use 2026 to review the policy and examine models that have worked elsewhere, including Australia, where foreigners can purchase newly built homes.
自疫情以来，住房市场也发生了巨大变化。加拿大央行于2022年开始加息后，市场需求减弱，房价也开始下跌。目前全国基准房价较峰值已下跌约20%，是历史上最剧烈的调整之一。
The housing market has also changed dramatically since the pandemic. After the Bank of Canada began hiking interest rates in 2022, demand softened and prices began to fall. The national benchmark price is now roughly 20% below its peak, one of the sharpest corrections on record.
尽管市场出现下滑，许多年轻加拿大人仍然难以负担购房成本，因此任何允许更多外国资本进入住房市场的举措，对于马克·卡尼总理的政府而言都具有政治敏感性。
Despite the downturn, many younger Canadians remain priced out of home ownership, making any move to welcome more foreign capital into the housing market politically sensitive for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government.
尚帕涅承认市场正在发生变化，并表示市政当局、各省以及联邦政府均已采取措施，以提高住房的 affordability（可负担性）。
Champagne acknowledged that the market is evolving, and said municipalities, provinces and the federal government have all taken steps to improve affordability.
“不同地区，甚至不同社区之间的市场都存在很大差异，”他说。“我们不仅关注联邦政府已经和能够采取的措施，也关注其他层级的政府正在应对哪些问题。”加拿大帝国商业银行的副首席经济学家本杰明·塔尔曾呼吁政府让这项禁令到期。
“The market is very different from one region to the other, even one community from the other,” he said. “We’re looking at not only what the federal government has been doing and can be doing, but also what other levels of government have been addressing.”Benjamin Tal, deputy chief economist at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, has called for the government to let the ban expire.
“这完全没有道理，”他上周表示，并指出卡尼一直在鼓励外国投资者进入经济的其他领域，而允许海外买家重返市场，将有助于为新住房项目提供资金并增加住房供应。
“It doesn’t make any sense,” he said last week, arguing that Carney has been encouraging foreign investment in other sectors of the economy and that allowing offshore buyers back into the market could help finance new housing projects and boost supply.