Published 7 September 2026 · By Jatin Dua, Broker of Record, RE/MAX Quantum Realty
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Get My Free Estimate →Overwhelmingly Canadian residents. Between January and April 2026 there were 62 sales above $5 million in the entire Greater Toronto Area, and the buyer pool for them is far more domestic than it was a decade ago, for a simple structural reason: a non-Canadian buying a Toronto house today faces a federal prohibition in force until 1 January 2027, and if exempt from it, Ontario’s 25% Non-Resident Speculation Tax plus Toronto’s 10% Municipal Non-Resident Speculation Tax on top of ordinary land transfer tax.
The practical composition is business owners and professionals moving up within the city, families consolidating after an inheritance or a business sale, and long-time owners of one top-end house trading for another. Very little of it is speculative, and almost none of it is leveraged the way the mid-market is.
Start with how few there are
Sixty-two. That is how many homes sold above $5 million across the entire Greater Toronto Area between January and April 2026, against 63 in the same four months of 2025. Within the City of Toronto specifically, 39 sold in the narrower $5 million to $7.499 million band, up 5.4% year over year.
Fifteen or sixteen sales a month, across a region of seven million people. Whatever you imagine the “$5 million buyer” to be, remember you are describing a group that could fit in a school gymnasium.
The rules did more to shape this pool than the market did
Three separate layers of government have made it structurally difficult for a non-Canadian to buy a Toronto house since 2023.
The federal prohibition
The Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act came into force on 1 January 2023 and is currently set to expire on 1 January 2027. It bars non-Canadians from purchasing residential property, with exemptions including permanent residents, qualifying temporary residents such as certain workers and students, refugees and protected persons, diplomats, Canadian-controlled corporations, recreational property outside census metropolitan and agglomeration areas, and purchases made for the purpose of development.
Ontario’s 25% speculation tax
If a buyer is exempt from the federal prohibition but is a foreign national, foreign corporation or taxable trustee, Ontario’s Non-Resident Speculation Tax applies at 25% of the purchase price, province-wide, on land containing one to six residential units. That rate has been in place since 25 October 2022.
Toronto’s additional 10%
Since 1 January 2025, the City of Toronto has charged its own Municipal Non-Resident Speculation Tax of 10% on residential purchases by foreign buyers, on top of the provincial tax and on top of both land transfer taxes.
So who is actually buying
The published statistics do not break buyers down by occupation or residency, so anyone giving you percentages is inventing them. What is observable from how these transactions run is a fairly consistent set of situations:
- Move-up buyers already in the city. A family selling a $2.5 million house in a good neighbourhood and adding capital from a business, a professional practice or an equity event. This is the single most common profile.
- Consolidation after a liquidity event. A business sale, a partnership buyout, or an estate settlement converts a large illiquid asset into cash, and a portion of it lands in a house.
- Lateral moves within the top end. Owners of one $5 million house buying another — usually for a specific reason: a bigger lot, a ravine, proximity to a school, or a rebuild opportunity.
- Downsizers trading a large house for a top-end condominium. Small in number — four condominium sales above $5 million in the Toronto core in four months — but a real and growing category.
- Returning Canadians and new permanent residents. Exempt from the federal prohibition, and buying a principal residence rather than an investment.
How the money is usually structured
Financing exists, but it is different
Insured mortgage lending is irrelevant at this level. What you find instead is uninsured lending from a smaller set of institutions, private lenders and family offices, underwritten with heavy attention to the appraisal. Because comparable sales above $5 million are so thin, the practical constraint on a deal is far more often the appraised value than the borrower’s income.
Corporations and trusts, and what they do not do
Some purchases are made through a corporation or a trust, usually for estate planning or because the funds sit in a holding company. It rarely saves tax on the house itself: buying a home through a corporation generally forfeits the principal residence exemption on any capital gain, which is one of the most valuable exemptions in the Canadian tax system.
Nor does it deliver anonymity in the transaction. Under FINTRAC rules, a brokerage must identify the beneficial owners holding 25% or more of a corporate or trust purchaser, make a third-party determination about who is really directing and funding the purchase, and keep those records. Since October 2024 mortgage lenders have been reporting entities as well, and title insurers joined them on 1 October 2025.
What this means if you are selling at this level
Your buyer is almost certainly local, well advised, and under no time pressure whatsoever. They are not going to be rushed by a listing gimmick, they have seen every competing property, and they will notice the things you hoped nobody would notice. That points to one strategy: prepare thoroughly, document everything — survey, permits, mechanical ages, tax bill, warranty paperwork — and price against the small number of sales that actually happened rather than against what you hope the market will do.
The practical takeaway
The $5 million buyer pool in Toronto is small, domestic and patient. The corollary is that marketing spend matters less than most sellers think and preparation matters much more. Fifteen or sixteen buyers a month across the whole region will all see your house. What they see is the entire variable you control.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign buyer purchase a $5 million home in Toronto right now?
Generally no. The federal Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act has been in force since 1 January 2023 and is currently set to expire on 1 January 2027. Permanent residents, qualifying temporary residents, refugees and diplomats are among those exempt, and the prohibition does not apply to purchases for the purpose of development. Anyone in this situation should get their own legal advice before signing anything.
What taxes does a non-resident pay if they are exempt from the ban?
Ontario’s Non-Resident Speculation Tax is 25% of the purchase price and applies province-wide to foreign nationals, foreign corporations and taxable trustees buying land with one to six residential units. Toronto adds its own Municipal Non-Resident Speculation Tax of 10%, effective 1 January 2025. Those sit on top of Ontario land transfer tax and Toronto municipal land transfer tax.
Do $5 million buyers pay cash?
Many do not. What is true is that insured lending is irrelevant at this level and the mortgage, where there is one, is uninsured, bespoke and underwritten against a much smaller pool of comparable sales. Appraisal risk is the practical constraint far more often than income is.
Do luxury buyers use corporations or trusts?
Some do, usually for estate or business reasons rather than tax savings — buying a home in a corporation typically forfeits the principal residence exemption on any gain. Where a corporation or trust is used, the brokerage must identify the beneficial owners holding 25% or more under FINTRAC rules, so the structure does not create anonymity.
Are $5 million buyers mostly from outside Canada?
The published counts do not break buyers down by residency, so anyone claiming a precise split is guessing. What can be said is that the combination of a federal purchase prohibition and a 35% combined speculation tax load for exempt non-residents has made non-resident purchasing of Toronto houses structurally difficult since 2023.
Where do the $5 million-plus sales happen?
In the January to April 2026 count, 39 City of Toronto homes sold in the $5 million to $7.499 million band, up 5.4% year over year. The $3 million-plus counts by neighbourhood were led by Rosedale and Lawrence Park at 20 each, then Bridle Path–Sunnybrook–York Mills at 14 and Forest Hill South at 11.
Thinking about buying or selling at the top end?
Send me the address, or the shortlist you are considering. I will tell you what the property is actually worth today, what the land is worth without the house, what the transfer tax and carrying costs will be, and whether the deal makes sense. Confidential, always.
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Related reading
- Toronto luxury real estate in 2026: what the numbers actually say
- How many $3 million homes actually sell in Toronto each year?
- What counts as luxury real estate in Toronto?
- Why Toronto’s luxury market moves differently than the rest of the market
Sources
Everything above that is a rule, a rate or a published number comes from these. Verify anything that matters to your own deal.
- RE/MAX Canada — 2026 Spotlight on Luxury Real Estate, Greater Toronto
- Government of Ontario — Non-Resident Speculation Tax
- City of Toronto — Municipal Land Transfer Tax and MNRST rates
- Government of Canada — Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act
- FINTRAC — Guidance for real estate brokers, agents and developers
About the author — Jatin Dua, Broker of Record
I’m the Broker of Record at RE/MAX Quantum Realty, 799 The Queensway in Etobicoke, and I work with buyers, sellers and investors across Toronto and the west GTA. A large part of my work sits in the upper end of the market, where the comparables are thin, the rules are heavier and the cost of a wrong number is measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The free estimators on this site are mine. I built them because the first question every owner asks is “what is it worth?” and the honest answer starts with a number you can check yourself. connect@jatindua.com or 437-987-1925.