Vancouverites lead nation in high-rise ownership: StatsCan

[raggedy13]

From Metro:

Condo crazy
Vancouverites lead nation in high-rise ownership: StatsCan

BY KRISTEN THOMPSON
June 05, 2008 02:03


Condos are seen along Homer Street in Yaletown. Rates of condo ownership in the four B.C. census metropolitan areas are the highest in the country.


It seems that not all those construction cranes that dot the Vancouver skyline are 2010-related.

More people own condos in Vancouver than anywhere else in Canada, a trend that’s fuelling a surge of high-rise construction in the city.

According to 2006 census data released yesterday by Statistics Canada, about one in three people who own a home here live in a condo, compared to about 10 per cent nationwide.

Robyn Adamache, Vancouver-based senior marketing analyst with Canadian Housing And Mortgage Corporation, said it comes down to affordability.

“Generally it costs about half as much to buy a condominium as a single detached home,” she said.
“Of course the other reason is lifestyle factors, (such) as the amenities and central locations condos are generally located in.”

“What we’re seeing in new home building in Greater Vancouver is the vast majority, (about) 80 per cent of homes, are of the multiple unit variety.”


The trend also holds true nationally, where around 913,000 Canadian households own a condo, up 36.5 per cent from five years earlier.

That increase has driven homeownership to the highest it’s ever been.

Around 68.6 per cent of Canadian households own their home, slightly lower than the British Columbia average of 69.7 per cent.

–kristen.thompson@metronews.ca

http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/local/article/64380

[raggedy13]

And an excerpt from the Statscan release:

2006 Census: Changing patterns in Canadian homeownership and shelter costs

...Condominiums driving homeownership

The census enumerated 913,000 households that owned a condominium in 2006, up 36.5% from five years earlier.

The increase in condominium owners during this period accounted for one-quarter of the increase in the number of Canadian households that owned their dwelling.

In 1981, less than 4% of owner households owned condominiums. By 2001, this proportion had more than doubled to 9%, and by 2006, it had reached 10.9%.

Rates of condominium ownership were highest in the four British Columbia metropolitan areas. Condo owners accounted for 31.0% of owner households in Vancouver in 2006, 23.8% in Abbotsford, 21.2% in Victoria and 21.1% in Kelowna.

http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/080604/d080604a.htm

[excel]

cool article thanks for posting.