New Canadians boost housing market

January 10, 2018

An increase in immigration to Canada, not foreign buyers, will fuel future housing demand in major cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, a new study suggests.
Canada is planning to increase annual immigration levels by about 25 per cent within the next two years.
The vast majority of immigrants – estimates are as high as 90 per cent – settle in Canada’s three major cities. As well, new immigrants are much more likely to buy a home than local residents.
In 2017, 36,000 immigrants arrived in B.C. and Metro Vancouver home sales reached 35,900. Ontario received about 100,000 immigrants last year and Greater Toronto Area home sales were 92,394.
“The recent decision to raise permanent immigration admission levels from approximately 270,000 in 2015 to 340,000 in 2020 will surely have a significant impact,” said University of British Columbia geographer Daniel Hiebert. 
Hiebert has published a study of immigration and Canadian housing trends in the winter edition of the Canadian Journal of Urban Research.
Most immigrants show greater determination than Canadian-born citizens to buy a home in Canada’s three major cities, said Hiebert, who also studied buying and renting patterns based on ethnic characteristics.
The report found that new immigrants are more likely to own a home than locals. Among Chinese immigrants who arrived in Canada between 2011 and 2016, for example, more than 70 per cent purchased a home.