For Canadian buyers.
Most of what we publish applies cleanly whether you are buying on a US or a Canadian passport, including: the city pages, the market data, the bank-trust mechanics, the closing process, the financing options. This overlay is for the slice that changes when the passport is Canadian: what CRA wants you to file each year, how foreign rental income gets treated, and what happens to your principal-residence exemption.
City pages, market data, fideicomiso, the closing process, currency wires, and neighborhood deep-dives stay nationality-neutral, with Canadian-buyer sidebars where the treatment splits — for example, Norbert's Gambit versus Wise on the cross-border wire piece. Tax and estate content gets full citizenship-split pages because the law differs.
Canadian-specific guides
Four pieces, written for Canadian passports and the Canadian tax return.
Do you need to file a T1135? Required if specified foreign property exceeds CAD 100,000. Penalties hit CAD 24,000. Fideicomiso and VDP rules explained.
Foreign rental income is fully taxable in Canada on T776. Claim CCA and you trigger recapture at sale plus permanent PRE disqualification — a common trap.
The Canadian PRE applies to foreign property — but the ordinarily-inhabited test and one-property-per-family rule mean designation usually costs you money.
Same shape, different country. Where cross-border financing differs from a Canadian domestic mortgage, plus a decision framework for foreign property.
More Canadian guides
- Can a TFSA or RRSP Hold Foreign Real Estate? (HBP Doesn't Apply)
- Canadian Departure Tax on Foreign Property: Section 128.1, T1244
- Canadian Tax on Foreign-Corp Property Holding: T1134, FAPI
- Canadians Buying Property Abroad: T1135, CRA, PRE Rules
- Cross-Border Estate Planning for Canadian Buyers Abroad
- Foreign Rental Loss Carry-Forward for Canadians: T776 Rules
- Foreign Rental Property Elections for Canadians: CCA, Section 45
The Canadian overlay sits on top of full country coverage.
Once you've read the four pieces here, the Mexico guide covers the closing process, the fideicomiso, financing options, and the markets that make sense for foreign buyers — all of which apply to Canadians the same way they apply to Americans. The differences — T1135, CRA, the cross-border tax stack — live on this overlay. New issues land in The Brief.
One market read, one process explainer, one number to know.
Free, no sponsors. Cross-border property and retirement, written for North American buyers.