How many housing units belong to non-residents in Canada’s largest cities?

According to the recent data from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), non-resident homeownership in Canada’s largest cities is growing.

Although in case of Toronto, the share of condos owned by non-residents was down slightly from 3.3% in 2019 to 3.1% in 2020, foreign buyers still accounted for a large amount of newer condo construction units.

“Last year, non-residents owned 5.4% of condos in Toronto constructed after 2010. It’s 6,903 units built after 2010, which is 2.51% more than a month before,” – Better Dwelling says in its analysis, based on the CMHC numbers. “The rate went down, but the real number of units owned by non-resident investors was up. More than one in 20 condos built after 2010 are owned by non-residents.”

Non-residents owned total of 9,686 condo units in Toronto. It means that older supply “is being sold off faster than it’s being bought.”

This tendency is even more vivid in Vancouver, where the non-resident ownership rate was up from 1.5% in 2019 to 1.9% in 2020. In absolute terms, non-residents owned 1,850 condos last year, marking an annual increase of 31.4%.

“Non-resident ownership of condos rose by one unit for every 10 added to the market in 2020,” – Better Dwelling noted. “In 2020, 2.4% of condos built after 2010 belonged to non-residents, which is 1.0% more than a year earlier. In absolute numbers, it’s 584 condos and a 177.6% annual gain.”

This year, the Canadian Real Estate Association noted that strong real estate market fundamentals will be supported by a rebound in activity coming from reopened borders and vaccination distribution.

Strong immunity caused by massive distribution of COVID-19 vaccines is “already coming, and it will lead to reopening of the hard-to-distance sectors that have been mostly affected by the pandemic. It will also cause a re-acceleration on the immigration,” – CREA says.

CREA expects about 701,000 home sales through Canadian MLS Systems in 2021 and a 16.5% year-over-year increase of the national average home price reaching $665,000.