Half of Toronto condos bought last year were by investors

The condo market is absolutely booming in Toronto right now, but a great deal of the people buying these units have no intentions of making them into a home.

At least not for themselves.

A report released on Friday by the market analysis firm Urbanation, in conjunction with CIBC, shows that roughly 80 per cent of all new homes sold in the GTA last year were condos.

Of these new condos, no less than 48 per cent were purchased by what the report calls "rental investors" – people who purchase units for the sole purpose of renting them out.

In general, the report states that these investors tend to be between the ages of 40 and 60, with discretionary wealth, and "often approach condo investing as part of their retirement savings strategy or as a plan to help their children get into the market."

Urbanation and CBC conducted a focus group with some of the area's top condo investment condo brokers in an effort to learn more about these buyers and their motivations.

Wow...48% of the new condos sold in the Greater Toronto Area in 2017 were to investors. But wait it gets better.... pic.twitter.com/n69Q7Uf6Uw

— FCFYield (@FCFYield) April 6, 2018

All of the brokers agreed that "local immigrants represent a significant share of investors," according to the report, while international buyers represented less than 10 per cent of their collective clientele.

From CIBC/Urbanation report: investors now account for about half of all #condo purchases in the Greater #Toronto Area, based on data on 2017 closings:#housing #RealEstate #condos #cdnecon pic.twitter.com/dYo1HsngxD

— Don Curren (@dbcurren) April 6, 2018

I guess Ontario's new foreign buyers tax is working as it's meant to. Either that, or big money investors from elsewhere in the world have moved on to more stable markets.