Federal budget 2016: Liberals to spend $500K to gather data on foreign homebuyers

Ottawa is spending $500,000 to help understand the role of foreign homebuyers in the country’s housing market.

The cash in the federal budget is going to Statistics Canada to help develop methods for gathering data on home purchases by foreign buyers.

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The government says comprehensive and reliable data on the number of homes sold to foreign buyers does not exist right now.

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The plan may involve collaboration with the provinces, including British Columbia, which recently announced plans to have homebuyers disclose whether they are citizens or permanent residents of Canada or another country.

Many believe the Vancouver housing market has charged ahead in recent years due to an influx of wealthy foreign buyers.

The rapid rise in home prices has pushed the price of detached houses well over $1 million in Vancouver and raised questions about affordability and sustainability for the market.

After the budget’s release Tuesday, leader of the Official Opposition Rona Ambrose slammed the Liberal’s projected $29.4 billion deficit for 2016 as “a nightmare scenario” from a tax-payers point of view.

With a file from Global News