1 in 5 properties across much of Canada are owned by investors. That makes it harder for 1st-time buyers
CBC
Statistics Canada data shows that more than a fifth of all houses in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Ontario were owned by investors in 2020.
It's the first time the Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP) is publishing data related to housing investors, defined as homeowners that own at least one property that is not their primary residence.
The data shows that condominiums in particular — which constitute a majority of newly-built houses in B.C. and Ontario — are held by investors in high numbers. Over a third of all condos in B.C. are investor-owned, with the number jumping to 41.2 per cent in Ontario.
Experts say the figures raise questions about whom new houses are being built for, and how capital may be distorting the housing market across a country in the grips of an affordable housing crisis.
"What this dataset does is that it shows a competition to get on that [housing] ladder," said Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University's City Program.
"For Canadian public policy at the federal, provincial and local levels, who should have priority in trying to get on that ladder?
"Somebody … who is a first-time homeowner, who is a young or new Canadian, how do they fit in versus somebody who was wanting a residential piece of real estate as an investment?"
Yan says the data, collected at the end of a decade with significantly low interest rates, provides a useful snapshot of the housing market before the pandemic and subsequent rate hikes began to significantly take hold.
The data released by the CHSP shows a variety of regional differences, which Yan describes as a "profound challenge" when it comes to designing national housing policies.
While Nova Scotia and New Brunswick had comparatively high levels of investor-owned properties, Statistics Canada says that's likely because of the large amount of vacant land in the Maritimes that is "often" owned by homeowners in addition to their primary home.
"If we remove this type of investor, the rate of investors falls to 24.8 per cent in Nova Scotia and 21.3 per cent in New Brunswick," the agency said.
"The proportions of investors are then more comparable to those of the other provinces."
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