I think a quick recap is in order for 2022 coming to an end, here are the stats from a few major cities across the country for comparison.

Saskatchewan Stats:

25,089 new listings in 2022 a 7% decline from 2021

We saw interest rates raise 7 times throughout the year

Saskatoon:

4,587 sales in 2022 a 15% decline from 2021

Total residential average price for 2022: 368,873

Vancouver sales down 35.3% from 2021

Edmonton sales down 26.1% from 2021

Saskatoon sales down 15% from 2021

Winnipeg sales down 20% from 2021

Toronto sales down 38% from 2021

A quick recap from the new laws that came into effect January 1^st:

The new anti-flipping tax on residential properties came into effect, so here is the low-down.

The new law will disallow the use of the principal residence exemption to shelter the capital gain on the sale of your home if you’ve owned it for less than 12 months.

What does this mean?

You will 100% be taxed as business income if you sell it before the 12 months.

For example; you buy your house for 300k and 7 months later sell it for 400k you will be fully taxed on the 100k you made.

How does this differ from last year?  This is where the grey area comes into effect because before 2023 the CRA did not specify an exact duration of time you had to live in your home to be exempt from the gains. Rather they looked more for patterns of flipping and intentions so if one did buy a house to flip last year for 300k and sold it for 400k this year you would only be taxed on 50% of the 100k as you purchased before the new law was put in place.

The exemptions to this policy include pregnancy, death, employment, divorce, or disability.

As of Jan. 1, 2023, foreign buyers are banned from buying homes in Canada for two years under the Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non- Canadians Act. The ban was passed in June 2022, but only came into effect this month. Under the act, non-citizens, non-permanent residents, and foreign commercial enterprises are banned from buying Canadian residential properties. The two-year ban is part of the federal government’s effort to ease Canadians’ struggle to afford homes.