First, an assignment sale takes place typically when you are holding a title to acquire a piece of real estate, let's say a condo that you purchased at phase of construction, for instance. Prices have increased. Now you have an interested buyer. What you're doing is assigning this contract to the buyer for additional compensation. So if you first purchased that for $300,000, let's say, and now it's worth $500,000 or $600,000, the new buyer will give you an additional $200,000 or $300,000. That's typically an assignment.
Right now, if the intent to originally purchase that property was to occupy it as your principal residence, the person doesn't have to pay GST/HST on that additional value. We were a bit concerned, particularly now given the state of the market, that relying on that intent was probably a bit weak as a position. The proposal is to basically require, on all assignment sales, regardless of the intent, charging GST and HST on the appreciated value. That would ensure that it's applied evenly across all transactions and in a way that will help deal with speculation in the market.