As published in the Tremblant Express, March 2024 edition
A law that came into effect on January 1, 2023, prohibited non-Canadians from purchasing residential real estate in Canada.
On February 5, 2024, the Canadian government extended, until 2027, the prohibition of non-Canadians from buying residential real estate. That law was to have expired in 2025.
However, this law does not apply to residential properties if they are located in a region of Canada which is not part of an “agglomération de recensement (AR)” – a census agglomeration – or of a “région métropolitaine de recensement (RMR)” – a census metropolitan area. Thus, because Mont-Tremblant is not included in an AR or an RMR, the law does not prohibit non-Canadians from purchasing residential properties on its territory.
Message to Americans: you not only can, but you should buy Mont-Tremblant real estate, because:
- The exchange rate favours you. (In fact $1 US today is worth $1.35 CAN, so a property listed at $750,000 CAN is selling for US$ 555,000);
- Some mortgage lenders will ask for only a 20% down payment.
A reminder
This is good news for Mont-Tremblant, because the 1990s-era vision for development of the region included, for resort real estate, a pool of potential buyers from abroad…from outside Canada.
It’s worth remembering, too, that Mont-Tremblant has never seen a non-Canadian-owners’ tax as low as it is now (2023: 3.2% vs 2007: 7.6% at its highest). What’s more, the fact that the country’s big cities are not accessible to these investors can create a funnel effect for our region.
As for the possible effect of an increase in value of residential real estate – properties needed to accommodate local workers – we should bear in mind that non-Canadian purchasers buy primarily resort real estate in new, golf course- or mountain-based projects. They buy very little in the residential sectors.
