Today, in advance of its presentation to the City of Toronto's Budget Committee, TREB launched anotherobstacle.ca to shed light on proposed changes to the City's Land Transfer Tax.
The City is serious about these changes that would, if enacted:
- Add an additional 0.5% of tax for all buyers (For repeat home buyers purchasing an average priced home, this would mean a 7% increase of $750 on top of the $11,000 that they already pay to the City. For first-time buyers, it would mean a 6.5% increase of $475, or, at best, the status quo, if the current rebate is not adjusted higher than what is currently being proposed);
- Eliminate the first-time buyer rebate completely for those purchasing a home above a certain threshold, contemplated at $700,000 by City staff. The $700,000 threshold is well BELOW the current average price of a home in Toronto. Under this potential scenario, a first-time home buyer purchasing a home BELOW the current average price would see an unprecedented $3,725 increase, in addition to the $750 increase also being proposed, which would mean a $4,475, or 75%, tax increase for a first-time buyer purchasing a below average priced home.
If you disagree with the changes that City Hall is proposing, please help us send a message.
Your voice really can make a difference, so please do one (or both!) of these quick actions:
- Help us spread the word using #AnotherObstacle on your social media channels or by sending a prescripted post from anotherobstacle.ca.
- Head to anotherobstacle.ca to send a message to your local city councillor, asking them to reconsider this irresponsible cash grab. In less than a couple of minutes, you'll be able to select from prescripted text to send a customized message.
Thank you for helping us prevent #AnotherObstacle to home ownership.