Opinion: BC should waive its 20% foreign buyer tax on new homes that families buy to live in

This article is the opinion of the voche.me editors. The facts it relies on are listed with their sources at the end.

Budget 2026 proposes to let foreign buyers purchase new homes again. In the five regions where BC charges its own tax, that change will help few families on its own, because the province charges its own 20% tax on foreign buyers and the federal budget leaves it in place.

We think the province should waive the 20% on a brand new home that a family buys to live in, from the day Ottawa's change becomes law.

What the 20% tax is

The province calls it the additional property transfer tax. A foreign national, foreign company or taxable trustee pays 20% of the fair market value of their share of a home. It applies in five regional districts: Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, the Capital Regional District, Central Okanagan and Nanaimo. It is paid on top of the regular property transfer tax that every buyer pays.

The tax follows the share on title. The province's own example is a buyer who registers a 70% interest and pays the tax on 70% of the home's fair market value. A parent abroad who holds half of a new home pays 20% of that half, which works out to a tenth of the whole home's value.

What Ottawa proposed, and what it left to the province

A federal law has stopped most people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents from buying a home since it came into force on January 1, 2023. Budget 2026, released on November 5, proposes to keep that ban on existing homes until January 1, 2029, and to exempt new homes from it. Parliament still has to pass a bill.

Page 203 of the budget gives the reason for the exemption: it would help by "unlocking additional investment in new housing supply." The same page says Ottawa will keep supporting measures "levied by other levels of government" that deal with speculation.

We read that as Ottawa leaving BC's tax alone. If the 20% is going to change for new homes, the province has to decide it.

How few sales pay it

The province publishes how many home sales have a foreign buyer, each month and by region. In the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the share is small.

In the Fraser Valley Regional District, the province often holds the count back, as it does when a small number could point to a single buyer. It also holds back how much of the 20% tax it collected in most months. So no one outside government can put a public figure on what a waiver for new homes would cost. Because so few sales in Metro Vancouver involve a foreign buyer, we expect it to be small.

Why we think it should be waived on new homes

Ottawa's own reason for the exemption is new housing. A family that buys a new home and moves in is the buyer that reason describes. A 20% tax on that family works against it.

The case we think about is a parent who lives abroad and wants to help a son or daughter buy a new home here. Today the 20% pushes that family to keep the parent off title. The parent puts money in and holds no legal share of the home. If the family's plans change, the parent has no say in a home they helped pay for.

The province already treats a buyer who lives in the home differently from one who does not. A confirmed BC Provincial Nominee who buys a home as their principal residence pays no 20% tax, if they claim the exemption. A foreign national who becomes a permanent resident or citizen within one year of the transfer can apply for a refund, if they moved in within 92 days and lived there as their principal residence for a full year.

Both rules separate a person who lives in a home from a person who leaves it empty. We are asking the province to use the same test for new homes.

What we ask

Waive the 20% on a brand new home bought as a principal residence. The home should be one that nobody has lived in, and the waiver should start on the same day as Ottawa's new-home exemption, so buyers face one set of dates.

At the least, waive it for families. That means a parent or grandparent who buys together with a child or grandchild who is a citizen or permanent resident and lives in the home.

Keep the tax on resale homes and on homes bought to sit empty. A narrow change is easier for the province to check.

Until something changes, the 20% applies in full. A family with a member abroad who wants to help can do it today with a gift toward the down payment, with that person off title, and should speak to a lawyer before anyone signs.

If you agree, write to your MLA. Name the home your family wants to buy and who would live in it. Our earlier opinion article looks at what the new government's platform promises home builders.