February 07, 2023, Toronto: Investors own 36 percent of the condos in Toronto, according to a new report published by Statistics Canada via the Canadian Housing Statistics Program. In some smaller markets, investors account for well over 80 percent of condo ownership; across Ontario, almost 42 percent are owned by investors.
The report defines an investor as someone who owns at least one residential property that is not used as their primary place of residence. The data is pulled from early 2020 before the pandemic feeding frenzy hit, and prices shot up by more than 50 percent across the country as interest rates reached historic lows.
Investors own about half of the condos built from 2016 through early 2020, said the report, which sheds some light on the long-standing question about the impact of investors in Canada’s largest housing market.
“Toronto is heading in the direction of global cities like New York City, Manhattan especially, London, and Shanghai, where they have up to 80 percent of their condo market taken by investors,” said Simeon Papailias, managing partner of Royal LePage’s REC Canada. “We’ll end up in the same place where downtown Toronto is a commercial commodity rented out.”
The report shows that condos are more popular with investors than houses. In Ontario, investors account for 20 percent of all property owners — less than half the amount for condos.
That’s because condos are cheaper, and the deal structure is more flexible, said Papailias.
