Condos are least likely to be occupied by their owners, Statistics Canada says
During the pandemic year, the share of homes owned by non-residents was stable in Ontario (2.2%) and New Brunswick (2.9%), and went down annually in British Columbia (from 3.2% to 3.1%) and Nova Scotia (from 4% to 3.6%), according to Statistics Canada.
Of the census metropolitan areas in these provinces, the non-resident ownership rate was highest in Vancouver, at 4.2% last year. Toronto saw this share grow from 2.6% in 2019 to 2.7% in 2020, accompanying a 0.7% annual decrease in owner-occupied properties in Ontario’s urban areas.
By asset class, condominium apartments were the least likely to be owner-occupied, Statistics Canada said.
“This was especially true in Ontario, where 55.9% of condominium apartments were owner-occupied, compared with 87.9% of single-detached houses,” Statistics Canada said.
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Data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation supported the observations on the Toronto market. The Crown corporation said that last year, foreign buyers accounted for a significant amount of newer condo construction in the city.
“In 2020, non-residents owned 5.4% of condos built after 2010 in the city… In absolute terms, that works out to 6,903 units made after 2010, up 2.51% from a month before,” Better Dwelling said in its analysis of the CMHC numbers. “The rate fell, but the actual number of units owned by non-resident investors saw an increase. Over one in 20 condos made after 2010 are owned by non-residents.”
The trend was even more pronounced in Vancouver, which saw the non-resident condo ownership rate rise from 1.5% in 2019 to 1.9% in 2020. This translated to foreigners holding 1,850 condos in Vancouver last year, up 31.4% from the year prior.
