Forget about using the tax code to solve real estate speculation. Toronto is slowly losing its soul by developers paying off city hall bureaucrats to rezone parts of the city to build towering condo buildings and rows of semi-detached homes, which are being gobbled up by non-residents and non-citizens. On top of that, Asian money is chasing detached homes, so how can the average Canadian, with a job in Toronto afford to live in the city? The only way to cool off foreign demand is to have a permit system, just as one needs a permit from city hall to make specific renovations to your home. If a person wants to own real estate in Toronto, he/she would have to apply for a permit. Not only would you need to be a citizen but there would be 2 types of permits, one to purchase a primary residence and another type of permit to purchase a secondary residence. To prevent further speculation, the majority of permits issued  in any one year would give preference to primary residence purchases.