April 20th Premier Kathleen Wynne announced a comprehensive package of housing reforms, ahead of the provincial budget aimed at cooling the GTA housing market. The release can be found here. The announcement follows extensive media coverage about the serious concerns with the over-heating markets.

Mortgage Professionals Canada has been engaged with the Ontario government and many MPPs through our lobbying activities and our recent Queen’s Park Advocacy Day. We are pleased to see measures that will increase supply, improve data collection and curb speculation within the market place, which we have been asking the government to do.

However, we are disappointed that there is no additional support for first-time buyers in this package, and we suggest caution that a foreign buyer tax will not have the desired impact that the government seeks.

We will be studying the comprehensive package of measures in greater detail over the coming days and will continue to engage with the government to ensure the interests of our members are heard at Queen’s Park.