CMHC Is Looking For New Ways to Track Foreign Money in Canadian Real Estate

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation is beginning to use new tools to gain control on how much foreign money is coming into the Canadian housing market.

On Monday, the national housing agency told CBC News that it has been communicating with police agencies that monitor and track money laundering. The agency has also been in contact with tax authorities in order to expand its data collection on the impact of foreign buyers.

Spokeswoman Karine LeBlanc confirmed these details and she also stated that at this particular time, there is no existing tool that can give a definitive measure of how much foreign investment is in our housing markets.

CMHC, on a regular basis, participates in internal discussions and discussions with industry experts in order to develop a program that would better gather data on foreign buyers.

The agency has discussions with FINTRAC, Canada's financial intelligence unit which detects, prevents and stops money laundering. CMHC is also working more closely with the Canada Revenue Agency.

In recent years, the national housing agency has been blamed for a lack of reliable data about foreign money coming from abroad and how this might be affecting the increasing prices of homes in cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.

Reference: CBC News

http://www.cbc.ca/n…/business/cmhc-foreign-housing-1.3479247