on ownership of residential properties in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia in 2020. Some of the numbers made headlines. For instance, investor ownership of residential properties ranged from 20.2 per cent in Ontario to 31.5 per cent in Nova Scotia. Moreover, 41.9 per cent of condominium units in Ontario were used as investments that year.
Let’s take B.C. as an example, where there’s long been concern about foreign buyers particularly in the Lower Mainland. In 2020, non-occupant investors owned 23.3 per cent of units in the province. That seems to align with the foreign buyer story. In reality, most investors who own housing units in B.C. are Canadian individuals rather than companies or foreign buyers. Of the 16.5 per cent of houses owned by non-occupant investors in the province, 9.8 per cent were owned by British Columbians and 1.7 per cent by other Canadians. Of the 36.2 per cent of condos owned by non-occupant investors, 18.1 per cent were owned by British Columbians and 2.6 per cent by other Canadians.