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‘Non-individuals’ own 10% of B.C. residential property: CMHC

Proportion of residential property owned by corporations, governments and partnerships is much lower in Metro Vancouver and Victoria, much higher for vacant land
BC homes trees

Nearly one in 10 residential properties in B.C. is owned by “non-individual entities,” according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

The February 12 report from the Crown corporation finds that non-individual ownership of residential properties amounts to 9.8 per cent across B.C. but just 5.6 per cent in Metro Vancouver and 5.2 per cent in Victoria.

Kelowna has the highest rate of non-individual ownership among the province’s metro areas at 7.6 per cent, while non-individual ownership amounts to 15.8 per cent outside urban regions.

The CMHC defines non-individuals as corporations, governments, sole proprietorships and partnerships. The report, Residential Property in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia: Overview of Non-Individual Ownership, concluded most non-individual owners are governmental organizations, corporations in the construction sector, and corporations in the real estate and rental and leasing sector.

But it’s not necessarily homes that these entities are hanging onto.

Instead, the CMHC found that non-individual owners are more prevalent on vacant land, owning 64 per cent of these properties in B.C.

In Metro Vancouver, the average assessed value of vacant land owned by non-individuals tallies in at $1.9 million compared with $1.1 million for individuals. Non-individuals own 11.7 per cent of the total assessed value of residential property in Metro Vancouver.

In Victoria, the share of non-individual-owned residential property by total assessed value was 9.7 per cent.

torton@biv.com