Condominium investors in Vancouver and Toronto are mostly made of small-scale investors with a majority of them expecting to hold on to their property for the long haul, according to a new survey from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

The Ottawa-based Crown Corporation does an annual look in what it calls the Condominium Owners Report to “obtain insight on the activity and role of condominium owners” in what it describes as the country’s two largest condo markets.

CMHC surveyed 42,681 households in Toronto and Vancouver and asked if they own a secondary condominium. Among condo-owning households 76.5% do not own a secondary condo unit in addition to their primary residence, the rest own at least one. The report focused on the latter group, the investors.

“Investors display stable characteristics over time,” CMHC said.

The survey found almost 48.6% of investors bought their unit for rental income and 59.8% expect to hold onto it for more than five years.

The buy and flip mentality seems to be fading. Only 8.4% of investors plan to own less than two years, down from 10.1% a year earlier. A year ago, only 52.6% of investors planned to hold their units for more than five years.

Almost 75% of investors have only one unit and 90% of investors interviewed had no plans to buy another unit in the year following the survey.

The survey also found 56% of investors expect their units to appreciate, 35% do not expect a significant change and 5% are ready for the value to drop.

Financing remains an option for investors with 53% reporting they had a mortgage on the last unit purchased which compares with 59% of all home owners who have mortgage, according to the 2011 Statistics Canada 2011 National Household Survey.

CMHC Survey Finds Vancouver, Toronto Condo Investors Are in Market for The Long Term by Garry Marr | Financial Post