Foreign ownership of condos is on the rise across Metro Vancouver, according to new data from the Canada Housing Mortgage Corporation (CMHC).

Foreigners have gone from owning 2.3% of the Vancouver census metropolitan area’s (CMA) condos in 2014 to 3.5% in 2015, the Crown corporation said in a report released December 3.

In Vancouver proper, foreigners accounted for 5.4% of total condo unit owners.

The only other jurisdiction to come close to Vancouver was Toronto, where foreign ownership in that southern Ontario CMA rose from 2.4% in 2014 to 3.3% in 2015.

Toronto Centre managed to exceed the City of Vancouver, with 5.8% of its condo units owned by foreigners in 2015.

The CMHC arrived at these figures by surveying property managers and condo boards on the number of units in a building owned by people whose permanent residence was outside of Canada. Those numbers include Canadian citizens who do not live in Canada the majority of the time.

The CMHC said one of the challenges arriving at the data was defining what constituted a foreign resident. It did not include immigrants who lived in Canada the majority of the time in the data collected.

“While this is the most comprehensive study to date, accurate numbers on foreign ownership are inherently illusive,” Sherry Cooper, chief economist at Dominion Lending Centres, said in a note.

“Many foreign condo owners protect their identity through numbered companies, trusts and other vehicles to assure their privacy. Many view Canada as a safe haven to invest and protect their money, globally diversify their holdings, and keep it out of the hands of their local tax collectors. Others buy properties for children or other family members working or attending school in Canada.”

She said that while foreigners are “clearly impacting” the housing market in big cities like Vancouver and Toronto, it’s hard to argue they’re the sole reason behind rising housing prices.

“Seventy per cent of Canadian households own their own home. This is a record high for Canada, which boasts among the highest homeownership rates in the world, well above the level in the US,” she said.

“The government should not damper with this natural inflow of capital to Canada. Doing so could have serious unintended consequences and have little impact on providing affordable housing for needy Canadians.”

CMHC : Metro Vancouver Condos Have Canada’s Highest Rate of Foreign Owners by Tyler Orton | Business in Vancouver