M2M Condos Phase 2 . Ontario wants to increase property tax? In May this year, housing sales in the GTA area reached 11951 units, a sharp increase over the same period last year. The average price of all types of houses reached $108pd453, up 28.4% from the same period last year, but also set a historical record.Please Visit: M2M Condos Phase 2 to Get Your VVIP Registration Today!
In response to the extraordinarily booming housing market and soaring house prices in GTA and Ontario, some politicians are unable to sit still. Ontario’s official opposition party, NDP, urged Governor Ford to take measures, including a vacancy tax and a speculative tax on Ontario homeowners.
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that NDP Congressman Jessica Bell, who represents Toronto’s University-Rosedale constituency, proposed a motion in the provincial council on Thursday to impose a vacancy tax and speculative tax to curb house prices and increase the number of properties available for rent.
According to the provincial councillor’s proposal, the proposed speculative tax will be aimed at owners who pay most of the tax outside Ontario, while the housing vacancy tax will be imposed on owners who leave their properties vacant for more than six months in a year, in both cases, the tax rate is initially set at 2%.
The senator NDP’s motion was echoed by Toronto residents. Jaco Joubert, who lives in an apartment in downtown Toronto, for example, said he supported Senator Bell’s proposal, and according to his observation, there are some apartments in the city center that have been vacant for a long time.
He said that using light detection camera technology, it is estimated that in some cases, the vacancy rate of some apartment buildings is as high as 13%. On average, about 5.6% of apartment units may be vacant.
He points out that a large part of the problem is that developers or investors hoard large amounts of land or property, the so-called “land banking”, in preparation for future development, sale and profit.
“I’m tired of letting my friends leave Toronto or Ontario,” he said. “because house prices are so high, many of them can no longer afford to live in the place where they were born.”
According to Joubert, “[the New Democratic Party proposal] will help curb land reserves and the use of housing as an investment vehicle to allow home ownership.” If there is no vacancy tax, I am worried that the land reserves will become normalized and the problem will get worse and worse. “
But real estate agent Linda Pinizzotto doesn’t think so. As the founder of the non-profit organization Condo Owners Association, she says the vacancy rate in Toronto has actually risen as a result of the epidemic, and many of her members are eager to find tenants or plan to sell apartments they own because they can’t rent them out.
Jason Mercer, chief market analyst at the Toronto Real Estate Bureau (TRREB), is more straightforward, saying there is no reason to collect so-called speculative and vacancy taxes.
“I think the supply-side problem is more important, far beyond the vacancy tax. If I were a policy maker, I would seek to work with governments at all levels to discuss how to build more houses and provide various types of houses for more families. “