Mallorca political groups have taken heart from a Canadian ban on property sales to non-resident foreigners which came into force this week. The Balearic government has called for a debate on how sales of homes to non-residents can be introduced while the Mallorca Nationalists, Mes and Pi, are calling for an outright ban.
The new Canadian law took effect January 1 and essentially bans foreign buyers from buying residential properties as investments for two years. The law was passed because of a spike in Canadian home prices since the start of the pandemic – and some politicians’ beliefs that foreign buyers were responsible by snapping up supply of homes as investments.
There is a severe shortage of affordable housing for residents in the Balearics and foreign buyers hacve been blamed for the increase in prices.
The ban has been rejected by local estate agents who claim that the reason for a lack of cheap housing is because of failed government policies.