Data released by Ontario's finance ministry Wednesday show foreign real estate buyers were most active in the Toronto and York Region markets since a 15-per-cent non-resident speculation tax was levied across the Greater Golden Horseshoe region earlier this spring.

Between April 24 and May 26, about half of the 857 real estate transactions involving non-residents happened in Toronto, with about 21 per cent occurring in York Region, according to the government.

Here's how international activity impacted individual regions:

Durham: 2.1 per cent of homes that changed hands in the area were purchased by foreign entities
Halton: 3.7 per cent
Niagara South & North: 2.6 per cent
Peel: 3.8 per cent
Simcoe: 0.9 per cent
Toronto: 7.2 per cent
Waterloo: 3.0 per cent
Wellington: 2.3 per cent
Wentworth: 1.7 per cent
York: 9.1 per cent
Brant, Dufferin, Haldimand, Northumberland, Peterborough, Victoria: 0.5 per cent (these were combined because of the low number of transactions)

The latest figures come a week after Finance Minister Charles Sousa's office revealed 4.7 per cent of the 18,282 real estate sales that occurred over the same period across the Greater Golden Horseshoe involved non-Canadian residents or foreign entities. Not all of those sales would have beem affected by the 15-per-cent tax, however, as contracts could have been signed before April 20.

Retroactive to April 21, the non-resident speculation tax was a main fixture of the Liberal government's 16-point housing affordability plan aimed at calming the overheated market. More data to be released in fall will paint a better picture of the effect it has on the market.

While it's early days yet, there are signs the sizzling market could be cooling – the Toronto Real Estate Board reported last week sales in the Greater Toronto Area dipped 37.3 per cent for the month of June from a year earlier. TREB also noted the average selling price of all homes in the GTA last month climbed 6.3 per cent year-over-year, to $793,915, though the increase was smaller than year-over-year comparisons in April and May.

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snanji@qpbriefing.com

Government releases data mapping out foreign real estate buyers by region

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