Ontario's premier says a package of housing measures that will be announced within days will tackle both the rental and home sales sides of the real estate market.
Speaking today in Ottawa, Kathleen Wynne said it is intended to give people breathing space in the frenzied housing market in the Golden Horseshoe region without unintended consequences in other markets.
Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa has spoken frequently in recent weeks about going after speculators, who buy houses in the hope of turning a profit rather than to live in.
He also said that he discussed vacancy rates that are constraining supply at a meeting this week with the federal finance minister and Toronto Mayor John Tory, who has been talking about a vacant homes tax.
Housing Minister Chris Ballard has also said the provincial government has been developing ``substantive rent control reform'' amid calls to end a rule that sees annual rent increase caps only apply to residential buildings or units constructed before November 1991.
The average price of detached houses in the Greater Toronto Area rose to $1.21 million last month, up 33.4 per cent from a year ago.