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Condominiums are the preferred choice of real estate investors in the Windsor area with 62.5 per cent of those residences being owned for revenue-generating purposes by individuals not living in them.

The Statistics Canada study released Friday also found investors owned 12.1 per cent of all housing in the Windsor census metropolitan area. That area also includes Lakeshore, Tecumseh, LaSalle and Amherstburg.

Ontario’s percentage of investor ownership of all properties was 20.2 per cent or one in five residences. The investor ownership rate of condos provincially was 41.9 per cent.

“It confirmed what we have believed has been a trend for the last 10 years,” said economist and Smart Prosperity Institute senior director of policy Mike Moffatt.

“Ontario, in particular, has seen a lack of purpose-built rentals. For years, investors have been buying condos and renting them to students, post-graduates and those who can’t become first-time buyers because of high home prices.

“It’s resulted in double-digit rent increases across Ontario because it’s a supply and demand issue.”

The study was based on data collected in 2020 and from the 2021 Canada Census, but Moffatt said the trend only accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A growing population, increased immigration and more international students attending Ontario’s post-secondary institutions have added to rising demand.

Also included in the study were Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba and British Columbia.

Nova Scotia (31.5 per cent) and New Brunswick (29 per cent) had the highest percentage of investor representation. However, a significant percentage of those investors were for multiple properties that were vacant lots.

When those lots are discounted, Nova Scotia was 24.8 per cent and New Brunswick 21.3 per cent.

Less than two per cent of Ontario investors owned two or more vacant lots in the province.

Investors owned 23.3 per cent of all housing stock in British Columbia and 20.4 per cent in Manitoba.

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In Southwestern Ontario, London followed a similar pattern to Windsor with 14.1 per cent of all homeowners being investors and 86.5 per cent of condo owners.

By comparison, Toronto’s investor ownership of condos was 36.2 per cent.

“Condos are particularly popular with investors in cities between 300,000 and 400,000 people with a high number of students in university and college,” Moffatt said.

“It makes condos a very attractive investment.”

Given the lack of new construction of purpose-built rentals, Moffatt said investors putting residences on the market has actually prevented greater inflation of rents.

“It’s kept rents from going up higher than they otherwise would have because there would have been even more of a shortage or rentals,” Moffatt said.

 

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