OTTAWA, Canada – Prime minister, Justin Trudeau, on Wednesday, highlighted key measures included in Budget 2022: A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable to help improve housing affordability and get more young people into the housing market.
The measures proposed in Budget 2022 include:
- Introducing the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account, allowing first-time homebuyers to contribute up to $40,000. Like an RRSP, contributions would be tax-deductible, and withdrawals to purchase a first home – including investment income – would be non-taxable, like a TFSA. Tax-free in, tax-free out.
- Doubling the First-Time Home Buyers’ Tax Credit to $10,000 to provide up to $1,500 in direct support to home buyers. This will apply to homes purchased on or after January 1, 2022.
- Extending the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive to March 31, 2025, allowing first-time home buyers to lower their monthly payments.
- Helping Canadians save for and buy their first home by investing $200 million to help develop and scale up rent-to-own projects across Canada.
- Curbing unfair practices that drive up the price of housing, in order to level the playing field for young and middle class Canadians by imposing a two-year ban on foreign capital coming into Canada to buy residential real estate; taking steps to ensure property flippers pay their fair share of taxes; taxing all assignment sales of newly constructed and substantially renovated homes; and working with provinces and territories to develop and implement a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights and bring forward a national plan to end blind bidding.
- Putting Canada on the path to double housing construction over the next decade, including by investing $4 billion for the launch of a new Housing Accelerator Fund that will help create 100,000 new housing units over the next five years.
Budget 2022 proposes targeted and responsible investments to ensure more Canadians, especially young Canadians, have a safe and affordable place to call home. This is a key part of our plan to make life more affordable, create jobs and prosperity today, grow the middle class, and build a stronger economic future for everyone.
