Investors own 77 per cent of new condos in Waterloo region

Investors own majority of Waterloo region condos Stats Canada says nearly 7 out of 10 condos are owned as an investment. CTV’s Jeff Pickel finds out what this means for local housing.

As the K-W skyline continues to grow, data shows it's investors who are buying up a significant portion of it.

New numbers from Statistics Canada show 62 per cent of condos in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge are owned by investors.

For condos built since 2016, investors own 77 per cent.

“Truthfully I’m not surprised,” Megan Bell, president of the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors said. “I’ve seen investors coming into our market for the last few years now, we really started seeing in 2015-2016, especially in new construction.”

Across all property types, investors own one in five homes in Waterloo region.

Bell says the higher rates of investor ownership among condos are likely because they’re viewed as a safer investment than other property types.

“Most of your time your maintenance is taken care of… so it’s a little bit less risk,” she said, adding in most cases, the condo board covers all repairs to the building.

IMPACT ON HOUSING MARKET

Brian Doucet, a professor at the University of Waterloo’s school of planning says housing in Canada, and in many countries, plays two conflicting roles.

“It’s shelter, it’s a basic human right,” Doucet said. “And on the other side, it’s a commodity, a speculative commodity.”

Doucet says a housing market geared toward investors can lead to the most vulnerable being squeezed out.

“We don’t see a whole lot of units that are actually affordable as rental units to people on low and very low incomes, so we don’t see a lot of people on minimum wage, or living wages in the new buildings where three-quarters of the units are owned by investors,” he said.

According to Doucet, a focus on investment can inflate property value and can leave families with few options.

“We see in a lot of these developments, mostly one-bedrooms, and per square foot, they’re actually not that affordable, and we don’t see many, sometimes no, family-sized units.”

GOVERNMENT ACTION NEEDED, SAYS PLANNER

While housing supply is an issue across the province and country, Doucet says it will take more than just building more homes to make sure there is one for everyone.

“There are taxes that you can put on speculation and investment for people who own two, three, ten, fifty properties,” he said.

“We need all levels of government, provincial and federal to encourage the construction of purpose-built rentals, ideally with very good rent controls.”