The Toronto Real Estate Board is urging the city to exercise caution regarding a possible vacant home tax.
The board says it's worried there is not enough data or evidence to support the idea that a vacancy tax would increase the supply of rental housing.
It urged the City of Toronto to take a measured approach to help to avoid any unintended consequences for the housing market and property owners.
While board President Tim Syrianos didn't have any concrete ideas, he suggested maybe scrapping the municipal land transfer tax as a way of opening up new rental properties.
"We have a supply problem and the land transfer tax may be a key component as to why we have that problem." says Syrianos
He says many people are renovating, rather than moving, so that's keeping supply down when it comes to homes and appartments on the market.
The board also raised the issue of private property rights and the administrative challenges.
The Ontario government moved earlier this year to cool the Toronto housing market including the imposition to a foreign buyer tax and other changes.
The move followed the introduction of a tax on foreign homebuyers in the Vancouver region last year. The City of Vancouver also imposed a tax on vacant homes.