It’s Not Just Toronto—Most of Ontario’s Condos Are Investor Owned

Ontario real estate is dominated by investors, and this didn’t happen overnight. Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data confirmed investor-ownership using 2020 tax data. Diving into the numbers, we found that most of Ontario’s new condos (2016 or later) are owned by investors. It’s not just big cities like Toronto or Hamilton either, most new condo units were going to investors—even before record price growth in 2021… or potentially causing that record growth. 

Investors Own Most of Ontario’s New Condos, Toronto Included

Most of Ontario’s new condos are now investor owned, even in Greater Toronto, which has a high volume of condos. Investors held 56.4% of Ontario condos made in 201`6 or later, as of 2020. Toronto CMA is slightly underrepresented (55.2%), though investors still owned most of the units. That’s especially impressive when you consider how many investors sell new condos as soon as they’re built. This implies pre-sale units are even higher. 

Most of Ontario’s New Condos Are Investor Owned  

The share of newly constructed condo apartments (2016 or later) owned by investors in 2020.

Source: Statistics Canada; Better Dwelling.

Most New Condos Are Investor-Owned In Ontario’s Major Cities

The trend was similar, or worse, right across Ontario’s largest cities. In London, over 4 in 5 (80.9%) of new condos were investor-owned. The Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo corridor was only slightly worse (76.7%), but still overrepresented compared to the province. Hamilton was more in line with the rest of the province at 53.4%), but the majority still went to investors.  

Investors Own Nearly All New Supply In Some Small Cities 

The investor frenzy isn’t just in major cities with perceived growth potential. Frothy, almost rural markets, have left virtually no new condos for anyone but investors. All (100%) of newly constructed units were owned by investors in Norfolk, and Woodstock. Leamington wasn’t too far behind with nearly all (98%) of its new supply acting as investment vehicles. 

Stat Can’s dive into tax data confirms our earlier analysis that showed investors own most new supply. It’s worth emphasizing that the tax information they examined is from 2020. This means investors have been applying pressure to supply even before record home price growth in 2021. Bluntly put, a toxic speculative setup was present before low rates lit the fuse to ignite the trend. A decade of absurdly cheap credit tends to do that.