Brad Bradford has announced that he will waive the municipal land transfer tax on the first $1.1 million of the value of homes purchased in Toronto if elected mayor. The move could save home buyers approximately $18,000 when purchasing a $1.1 million home as a principal residence in the city, he said. Buyers would still be on the hook for the provincial land transfer tax, which is taxed at roughly the same rate. Currently, first-time buyers in Toronto can receive a rebate on the municipal land transfer tax but that can only be applied to the first $400,000 of the purchase price and Bradford says that the number has not kept up with rising home prices. The average home price across all property types in the City of Toronto was $979,684 in August, according to data from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. “The first-time buyer rebate was set at $400,000 in 2008 and hasn’t been touched since. Back then it covered most homes in the city. Today it fully exempts only 2.6 per cent of them. Bradford’s plan takes that from 2.6 per cent of homes to as many as two thirds,” his team said in a news release announcing the plan. Former mayor Rob Ford promised to eliminate the municipal land transfer tax entirely during the 2010 election campaign, but failed to deliver on the pledge following pushback from city council. The plan is subject to council approval. Asked if he would use so-called strong mayor powers to push the plan forward, Bradford said, “Yes.” Bradford underscored that investors and landlords who own more than one property in Toronto, who he said makes up about 29 percent of purchases, will not qualify for the tax break. He said that existing tax rates on property values about $1.1 million and over $3 million will stay in place. The mayoral candidate said the plan would cost the city roughly $300 million annually. How would the city pay for this? Asked how exactly the city would pay for the plan, Bradford pointed to an announcement he made Monday about making Toronto Water a public utility. “We think that the municipal water utility, publicly owned, will produce a dividend. So part of that dividend would go to offset this,” he said. Bradford added that changes to amortize capital projects over their useful life instead of funding them from the current year’s operating budget would also help to offset the cost. Toronto’s municipal land transfer tax goes directly to the city’s operating budget. Toronto brought in $805 million in land transfer tax revenue in 2025. In 2026, the city’s budget forecasted $850 million in land transfer tax revenue. This is a breaking news story. More details to come.
