25 Percent of BC Homebuyers Are Investors, StatCan Says

A home sold in Vancouver, where investors represented around one-third of all condominium apartment buyers. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

Investors make about a quarter of real estate purchases in British Columbia, according to new numbers released by Statistics Canada.

The report called Investors among residential real estate buyers: An analysis of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia, was released on Dec. 3. It looked at the role investors play in the housing markets of the three provinces using statistics gathered from 2018 to 2020.

StatCan said about a quarter of homebuyers in B.C. and 3 in 10 buyers in Nova Scotia are investors. In New Brunswick, the number drops to 2 in 10.

Over the three years, an average of 24.8 percent of residential properties in B.C. were bought by investors. In Nova Scotia, the number ranged from 29.2 percent in 2018 to 26.7 percent in 2020. In New Brunswick, the rate of investors averaged 20.3 over the three years.

StatCan determined investor status by property ownership and owner’s location of residence. Investors were divided into four categories: business investors, non-resident investors, out-of-province investors, and in-province investors.

Investors typically bought condo units rather than single-detached houses, StatCan numbers showed.

“In Halifax, Vancouver and Victoria, investor buyers represented around one-third of all condominium apartment buyers. Kelowna had a higher share,” the report authors said.

Rural vs. Urban Investors

In Nova Scotia, investors bought more property in rural areas (37.2 percent), while in B.C. they focused on more urban areas. Investors’ purchases of rural properties in B.C. averaged 34 percent, while in New Brunswick it was 27.2 percent.

The B.C. cities that saw most investors buy prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were Kelowna, Vancouver, and Victoria.

On the East Coast, investors buying in cities paid less for houses than non-investor buyers. However, in B.C. investors paid more than non-investors, the report said.

Immigrants and Investment Properties

The number of immigrants buying investment homes was high relative to their share of the population, according to StatCan.

“In Vancouver, for example, immigrants constituted about two-thirds (67 percent) of in-province investor buyers, despite representing around two-fifths of the population at the time,” the authors wrote.

Similar numbers were seen in 2018 and 2020 statistics, the report said.

Authors said other research has found that immigrants are more likely to buy property rather than other assets, which could be behind their overrepresentation.

“A tendency for immigrants to devote greater amounts of savings to real estate assets would also help explain disparities in incomes between immigrant and Canadian-born investor buyers,” the report said.