Foreign buyers nearly insignificant: new data

December 27, 2017

Foreign ownership accounts for less than 1 per cent of the Canadian housing market and rises to 3.4 per cent in Greater Toronto and less than 5 per cent in Metro Vancouver, according to the latest data from Statistics Canada and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC). The percentage falls even further in the detached housing sector.
The majority of recent foreign buyers are from China, according to the data.
In the majority of the 17 other urban housing markets surveyed, foreign owners make up less than 1 per cent of owners.
Montreal saw a modest rise in foreign ownership in the condo sector, rising from 1.1 per cent in 2016 to 1.7 per cent in 2017.
“The lack of growth in Toronto and Vancouver, combined with the increases in Montreal, indicate the possibility of a shift from these centres after the introduction of foreign buyers’ taxes in Ontario and British Columbia,” CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan said in a release accompanying the data.
However, foreigners are more likely to own more expensive property than their Canadian neighbours, the latest data shows.
In Greater Toronto, the average assessment value of single-detached houses owned by non-residents in Toronto was $103,500 higher than the average for Canadian residents. For condominium apartments, the average value of non-resident-owned units was $33,800 higher than the average of those owned by residents. In Metro Vancouver, the average value of single-detached houses owned by non-residents was $707,800 higher than the average for residents, at an average price of $2.27 million.