Foreign investment may not be as big a factor in Toronto’s condo market as we all thought it was
Foreign investment may not be as big a factor in Toronto’s condo market as we all thought it was
—The percentage of Toronto condos that are owned by foreign investors, according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The actual rate of foreign ownership has long been assumed to be much higher, though, and it’s not clear how accurate this new number actually is. The CMHC didn’t use hard data—which, for this type of thing, is difficult to come by. Instead, the agency polled a representative sample of building owners and managers.
Really depends how narrowly defined “foreign ownership for investment” is. There’s also something to be said for transient ownership where students live in condos purchased by their parents while they go to school.
If the condos owned by foreign speculators and/or money launderers are the most expensive ones, or better still: expensive ones built primarily to be marketed towards such people, it raises the prices of all real estate in the area, including the condos, houses, and even apartments which people actually live in. I’d be more interested in seeing the market value of all foreign owned condos in Toronto.
There’s plenty of other ways for speculators to make a profit which don’t directly result in a higher cost of living for other people. A necessity of life should never be allowed to be bought and sold for arbitrage.
It should be pretty easy to figure this out, the data does exist– Agents, lawyers etc and financial institutions are required by FINTRAC rules to know, keep records and record the identity of the client and the source of funds, part of that includes off shore parties and sources.”In Canada, casinos, money service businesses, notaries, accountants, banks, securities brokers, life insurance agencies, real estate salespeople and dealers in precious metals and stones are subject to the reporting and record keeping obligations under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act.- Wikipedia” so the real estate board members have this raw data on file.