Canada's November 2026 Budget: What Changes for GTA Buyers and Sellers

The federal budget tabled on November 5, 2026 proposes keeping foreign buyers out of resale homes until January 1, 2029 while exempting newly built homes, makes financing for three and four unit builds easier from February 1, 2027, and adds $13 billion to Build Canada Homes. Most of it is still a proposal.

I am Moe Asgarian, a Broker in Toronto, and most of my work is with buyers and sellers across the GTA. Here is what the budget of November 5, 2026 actually says, which parts are settled, which parts are still proposals, and what it means if you are buying or selling.

Foreign buyers: new homes are exempt, resale stays closed until 2029

The ban on home purchases by foreign buyers was set to expire on January 1, 2027. The budget of November 5, 2026 proposes extending it for resale homes, meaning homes that someone has already owned, for two more years. Under that proposal, foreign buyers could not buy a resale home until January 1, 2029, while newly built homes would be carved out of the ban. The government's stated reason is to leave more of the market to Canadians and push money toward new construction. Be careful here: as of November 2026 this is not law yet. The government says it will take the legislation to Parliament soon, but it has not said precisely what counts as a new home, and whether pre-construction is included is still unclear. If you are a citizen or a permanent resident, none of this applies to you. Some people on work permits or study visas can already buy under certain conditions.

One more thing that matters in Ontario: as of November 2026 a foreign buyer still pays the extra 25% tax, even on a new home. So for someone outside Canada this change opens a door, but the cost of buying in Ontario is still high.

The insured mortgage headline is for lenders, not for buyers

You have probably seen the headline that the budget of November 5, 2026 proposes an insured mortgage cap of $1.5 million with a 30-year amortization. Let me be clear: for a buyer this is not new. If you put less than 20% down, mortgage insurance is mandatory, and from December 2024 through November 2026 insured mortgages have been available on homes up to $1.5 million, with a 30-year amortization available on a first home. If you put 20% or more down you do not need insurance at all, and a 30-year amortization is already available to you. The change is aimed at banks and how they operate, not at the buyer. What it may do is bring more lenders, including credit unions and smaller lenders, into competition on mortgages for homes between $1 million and $1.5 million, and competition can mean a slightly better rate. The budget promised no rate. It said only that competition among lenders would increase.

Three smaller mortgage changes worth knowing

The budget of November 5, 2026 included three other changes that I think help a buyer. First, the central bank is to publish insured mortgage rates so you can compare more easily. Second, the CRA is to confirm your income directly to the bank, which both speeds up a mortgage file and cuts fraud, though that one needs a change in the law first and the pilot starts only in fiscal year 2027. Third, the government wants to make mortgage prepayment penalties more transparent. Keep in mind that these are proposals too, and as of November 2026 they carry no implementation dates.

Building three and four units gets easier from February 2027

From February 1, 2027, financing gets easier for three and four unit homes. The budget's own example: someone who wants to build a $3 million fourplex cannot get an insured mortgage under the rules in place in November 2026, because the price goes above the cap and because the owner has to live in one of the units. Under the new rule that person can get insured financing for up to 90% of the project value, does not have to live there, and once it is built can rent all four units or sell them separately. For larger buildings, private insurers get permission to insure the loan. This is the change I care about most. In my own work with clients who want to build on their land in the GTA, financing has been one of the biggest obstacles to moving a project forward, for the builders and for the owners.

$13 billion for Build Canada Homes and faster permits

The budget of November 5, 2026 added another $13 billion to Build Canada Homes, with the goal of 200,000 homes built over ten years. Most of that is affordable and non-profit housing, and part of it is to be built on government land. There is also money for municipalities to issue permits digitally and faster, and the budget cites an example from Edmonton where permit review time went from two weeks to one day. My read, as of November 2026: these are good headlines, but you will see the effect over the next few years rather than this year.

Pre-construction condos, immigration, and the two fronts of this market

The part of the market that is most stuck is pre-construction condos. A bank usually will not provide construction financing until a large share of a condo project is pre-sold, and in the GTA pre-sales have more or less stopped. From July to September 2026, fewer than 100 pre-construction units sold across all of Toronto and Hamilton. In the first six months of 2026, not a single new condo project even began selling. At the same time, the number of completed condos that builders have not sold hit a record. So in November 2026 there are plenty of finished condos available and very few coming in the future. Urbanation, which tracks Toronto condo statistics, says this trend can lead to a serious condo shortage by the end of this decade. The new-home exemption for foreign buyers is, in practice, an attempt to get these projects moving again.

On the demand side, the budget of November 5, 2026 says that through 2029 roughly 380,000 people a year will receive permanent residence. That number is flat, so it no longer climbs the way it did over the past two or three years. The part that matters for our community: the budget proposes that by the end of 2027, up to 200,000 people now in Canada on temporary visas get a chance to become permanent residents, with half of that, 100,000, from applicants who qualify under Express Entry or a provincial program. That is still a proposal and the government has to publish the details. Once those people become permanent residents they can buy resale homes, and they no longer pay Ontario's 25% tax.

So this market has two fronts. In the short term, as of November 2026, finished homes and condos are plentiful, interest rates have gone up and the buyer has room to negotiate. In the longer term, if construction stays this low, we may face a housing shortage in a few years, and that usually pushes prices up. The budget changes, the new-home exemption for foreign buyers and easier financing to build, are aimed at that future shortage. None of them happens overnight, and they may not cure the problems this market has today.

If you want to talk through what the November 5, 2026 budget means for your own plans to buy or sell in the GTA, fill out the form at the bottom of this page or book a free consultation. Stay well and take care.