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Between 2008 and April 2017, TREB says the average share of foreign buyers in the GGH was 2.3 per cent. The share was 2.2 per cent in 2016 and 2.6 per cent for the January through April period in 2017.

The group also says that 87 per cent to 90 per cent or more of buyers purchased their homes as a place to live. For 2016, that figure was 91.5 per cent, but dropped down to 88 per cent from January-April, 2017.

TREB noted that a survey of its brokers produced by Ipsos and released earlier this year estimated 4.9 per cent of transactions between the fall of 2015 and the fall of 2016 were made up of foreign buyers.

On the speculation front, the board looked at purchases between 2008 and April 2017 to analyze the number of homes bought and sold within one year of the original transaction by domestic or foreign buyers. The share was less than five per cent in 2016 and about seven per cent between January-April 2017.

The analysis also looked at the ratio of property owners that owned more than one property in the GGH to the total number of properties. As of April 2017, that ratio was 6.2 per cent of total properties.

“It is not yet clear what impact the measures contained within the Ontario Government’s Fair Housing Plan have had on TREB’s market area or the broader Greater Golden Horseshoe.” said John DiMichele, chief executive of TREB. “Despite the recent uptick in new listings on TREB’s MLS System, we believe that we all have to be committed to a better understanding of issues affecting demand and supply dynamics in our marketplace.”