CMHC’s Survey of Condominium Owners in Toronto and Vancouver

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released the results of its 2013 Condominium Owners Survey today showing that 82.9% of the condominium owning households surveyed reside in their unit and 17.1% are condominium investors.
“As information on condominium investment is rather limited at this time, CMHC has gathered new data on a segment of domestic condominium investment activity in Toronto and Vancouver. While the results are not representative of other markets or all types of investors, the survey helps to shed some light on the profile and purchasing motivations of a segment of condominium investors in Toronto and Vancouver,” said Bob Dugan, Chief Economist at CMHC’s Market Analysis Centre.
The survey found that about half of the surveyed condominium investors in Toronto and Vancouver rent out their last purchased unit. CMHC’s survey also found that of the surveyed condominium investors in Toronto and Vancouver:

• 58.4% expect to keep their last purchased unit for more than 5 years;
• 17.9 % for 2 to 5 years;
• 7.6% for less than two years, and 16.1% did not know or answer;
• 11.9% of respondents said they bought their last secondary condominium unit with the intention of reselling it for a profit within a year of purchase.

In addition, at the time of the survey, 42.1% of the Toronto and Vancouver investor households that were surveyed had no mortgage on their last purchased condominium unit.
A total of 42,426 households, which owned their primary residence in the Census Metropolitan Areas (CMAs) of Toronto and Vancouver, were surveyed in August and September of 2013. A subset of these condominium owners who own a secondary condominium unit are defined as condominium investors. Their primary dwelling can be either a condominium or a freehold1 unit. The 2013 Condominium Owners Survey gathered data to report on the extent of the activity of this sub-set of domestic condominium investor households in these two CMAs. This definition excludes households that own only one condominium unit in which they reside, as well as households that own a secondary unit but rent their primary unit.
The survey did not cover Canadian households that own condominium units in Toronto or Vancouver but do not reside in these CMAs. Foreign investors, and corporate investors are also not covered by the survey. “CMHC continues to explore opportunities to enhance the availability of information on foreign and corporate investment activities in the housing market,” added Dugan.
Results from the Condominium Owners Survey for Toronto and Vancouver were merged to increase their statistical reliability.
The full text of this report is available at http://www.cmhc.ca/od/?pid=68161