Condo ownership by foreign buyers most prominent in newer buildings: CMHC

Foreign ownership of condominiums tends to be higher in buildings built since 2010 in the cities of Toronto and Vancouver, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says in a report released Thursday.

CMHC said the rate of foreign ownership in the Toronto census metropolitan area is less than two per cent for buildings completed before 1990, rising to seven per cent for newer structures completed since 2010.

Foreign ownership of condos goes up to about 10 per cent in the core of the city, although CMHC urged caution in the reliability of that estimate.

In Vancouver CMA, foreign buyers' share rises from less than two per cent for properties built prior to 1990 to about six  per cent for those completed since 2010.

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The national housing agency said there is currently no existing tool that can give a definitive measure of the level of foreign investment in Canada's housing markets.

Bob Dugan, chief economist at CMHC, said researching foreign ownership of homes in Canada remains a top priority for the organization.

Foreign ownership has been a topic of interest in Toronto and Vancouver, two of the country's hottest housing markets, amid discussion that an influx of buyers from outside Canada is contributing to the rise in home prices in the two cities.