Mayor John Tory says something must be done about Toronto’s red-hot real estate market, but he’s not sure a foreign buyers tax will make homes more affordable.

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said this week that nothing was off the table when it comes to examining measures to address escalating home prices in the GTA.

Tory admitted the remarks caught his attention, so much so that he called Queen’s Park to see just what Sousa meant.

“I was told the words meant what they said,” Tory said. “Nothing had been taken off the table, but by definition, nothing was on the table.”

Tory said home prices are of “great concern” to all three levels of government. But he’s skeptical that a foreign-buyers tax would cool the red-hot market.

“People often think when you’re watching something carefully you’re doing nothing,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is be sensible, be responsible about this and to look very carefully to determine the underlying causes of the inflation in house prices. I don’t think there’s anybody who would suggest there is a simple answer to that.”

Last year, British Columbia imposed a 15% tax on foreign nationals buying homes in the Vancouver area.

Tory denied a suggestion that the city benefits from the status quo, and won’t be quick to move because it rakes in millions because of the Land Transfer Tax charged on home sales. That money was used largely to balance Toronto’s 2017 budget and has led city officials to warn against an over-reliance on the tax in case the housing market collapses.

“Considerations of trying to keep the Land Transfer Taxes flowing, obviously, are something you think about ... but it is not going to drive our thinking,” he said.

On Friday, the Toronto Real Estate Board also urged the province to nix consideration of a foreign buyers tax, arguing that it would do little to address the problem of rising house prices.

The real estate board also argued that concerns about the impact of foreign buyers on the real estate market in the Greater Toronto Area are “widely overblown.”

“The fact that most foreign buyers are looking to purchase a home for their family, for personal use, or to provide a tight rental market with much needed supply is something to be encouraged, as these actions are essential to Ontario’s economic success,” TREB president Larry Cerqua said Friday in a statement.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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