[seanicus]

Lol wait wait... RRSP is equivalent to US 401K, right? You can't contribute to your 401K the entire year when you buy a house?

Agree w/ everything you said and have similar feelings. My SO is from Toronto and we've always considered moving but mix of job market/housing prices have continually convinced us otherwise.

[apercu]

It's not that I couldn't contribute to a 401k/RRSP that year, it's that I needed the cash for downpayment/repairs.

You can take a loan from your RRSP for a downpayment, but only on your first home purchase.

(I was an immigrant and had owned a house in the US, and I am apparently the only person who had ever answered that question honestly, so I could not borrow from my retirement, and I had to pay provincial sales tax because of this as well).