Foreign ownership still low says CMHC

The share of foreign ownership of Canadian condos remains low, CMHC says, with Toronto at 2.3 per cent and Vancouver at 2.2 per cent; both markets saw a lower share than 2015.

“Foreign ownership is just one factor influencing Canada’s housing markets – but it’s an important one that continues to gain attention,” said Bob Duggan, CMHC’s chief economist.

The figures are closer to those seen in 2014 and the agency says this is due to an “unusually high” proportion of foreign buyers of newly-built condos in 2015, relative to 2014 and 2016.

For other CMAs, there was a range of foreign ownership share from 0.2 per cent in Regina to 1.2 per cent in Halifax.

The data shows that foreign buyers favour newer and larger condo complexes; in Toronto for example the share is 3.9 per cent for developments built after 2010 and 5.5 per cent for those with more than 500 units.
 

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