According to multiple election night news reports, Canadian immigration sites crashed as news that Donald J. Trump was about to become the 45th president of the United States.
Relocating to Canada requires real estate decisions, and they may not be as simple as one may hope. “There are several critical points the buyer needs to know if he or she is seriously considering buying Canadian property,” says Michelle Farber Ross, managing partner and broker for MMD Realty, (www.mmdrealty.com), a South Florida-based ultra-luxury real estate firm with offices in Toronto, Canada.
Ross, an expert in cross-border real estate transactions, notes that a key factor “is that market strategists echo the recent statement made by Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation (CMHC) that an imminent 10-30% price correction in Toronto and Vancouver due to the non-resident purchasing tax of 15% that Vancouver recently imposed and Toronto is expected to take place.” The tax was designed to reduce Chinese and Eastern European speculative buyers. Hence, a property that was selling for C$500,000 in the spring can now cost up to C$75,000 more.
And while interest rates are lower in Canada, the banking system is stricter. “Canadian banks have much less favorable lending terms than they do in the US, such as shorter terms, higher deposits and less leverage,” says Ross. In addition, she notes, depending on the province, the highest income tax bracket in Canada is between 50% and 54%, compared to the US at approximately 40%.
“In reality,” Ross concludes, “Americans looking to immigrate to Canada will likely need to rent or have a substantial amount of cash to purchase homes similar to what they now own in the US.”
About MMD Realty
One of the country’s premier ultra-luxury real estate firms, MMD Realty LLC, (www.mmdrealty.com), offers a multi-faceted platform to market properties and inventory and tap into domestic and global buyers, sellers and investors. It is headquartered in South Florida, with offices in Toronto, Canada.
A long-time Floridian, Michelle Farber Ross is MMD’s managing partner and broker. An authority on US and international real estate, Ross has been quoted in US News & World Reports, Crain’s Toronto and Crain’s Miami. Ross joined forces with NFL legend Dan Marino and Canadian entrepreneur Michael Wekerle to create MMD Realty in 2011. The company earmarks up to five percent of its profits for the Dan Marino Foundation.
