Chestnut Park is the exclusive Ontario affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, a network of independent brokerages in nearly fifty countries. Buying or selling abroad, Nick makes the introduction and stays involved.
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A Chestnut Park listing is syndicated through Christie’s International Real Estate to the financial and luxury press — the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Mansion Global and JamesEdition among them — so a buyer in London, Hong Kong or New York sees it without ever opening a Toronto search.
The brokerage also advertises directly where Toronto’s international communities read: Sing Tao Daily, the Chinese-language daily with around 12.5 million monthly views, alongside the Globe and Mail, the National Post and Toronto Life. The full publication list is on the marketing page.
Pins are placed at the city level and are approximate. Hover a pin, or click an office in the list, for its address.
Three separate rules stack on a foreign purchase here, and two of them are Toronto-specific. Most people arrive knowing about one of them. Current as of September 2026 — these change, and the first one is due to change soon.
Federal law prohibits most non-Canadians from buying residential property anywhere in Canada. Several groups are carved out, including many temporary residents, international students and refugee claimants who meet the conditions.
The province’s Non-Resident Speculation Tax, province-wide since October 2022. Rebatable if you become a permanent resident within four years and apply within 180 days of that.
A municipal tax on top of the provincial one, in force since 1 January 2025. The City applied it with no grandfathering — agreements signed before that date were not spared.
Stacked, that is 35% in speculation tax on a Toronto purchase — and it sits on top of the ordinary provincial and municipal land transfer taxes everyone pays. On a $2M house the two speculation taxes alone come to $700,000.
Both taxes carve out the same three groups: Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program nominees, protected persons and Convention refugees, and a foreign national buying jointly with a spouse who is a citizen or permanent resident. Whether you land inside one of those definitions is a question for a lawyer, not a website.
The federal ban expires on 1 January 2027. It has been extended once already, and the current signal from Ottawa is that what replaces it may look different rather than identical — more likely to turn on property type and what you intend to build than on a blanket test of who you are. Nothing is settled. If you are planning a purchase around that date, the timing is worth a conversation well before it arrives.
Going the other way, a non-resident seller cannot simply take the proceeds. A portion is held back at closing until the CRA issues a clearance, and the timing of that certificate routinely decides when a seller actually gets paid. Your lawyer and accountant run that process — but it needs to start before the sale closes, not after, and that is a scheduling problem Nick has seen catch people out.
General information, current as of September 2026 — not legal or tax advice, and these rules move. Primary sources: the City of Toronto on the MNRST, the Government of Ontario on the NRST, and CMHC on the federal prohibition. Confirm your own position with a real estate lawyer before you commit to anything.
Clients leaving the region are referred to a vetted agent in the destination market and Nick stays on the file until it closes. Clients arriving in Toronto from abroad get the same service in reverse, including guidance on non-resident purchase rules and financing.