Tracking the Sale of Multi-Family Rental Buildings to Financialized Landlords in Vancouver

Background

There is increasing concern about the financialization of rental housing, where ownership of apartment buildings transfers to firms that raise funds on financial markets, such as REITs, private equity firms, and financial asset management corporations. Previous research suggests financialized landlords may be more likely to carry out evictions and raise rents and other fees to deliver higher returns to shareholders and unit holders. While recent scholarship has begun tracking sales of rental buildings to these firms in Canada, the US, and Europe, there had not yet been a systematic analysis of these patterns in Metro Vancouver, a region experiencing significant housing market investment. This project aimed to deepen understanding of rental housing financialization in the region.

Methodology

This project used linked administrative datasets to analyze rental building sales in Metro Vancouver. First, it captured data from BC Assessment, which includes sale (conveyance) dates, sale prices, and rental unit composition, but does not identify buyers or sellers. Second, it linked these data to Land Title Survey Authority (LTSA) records to identify purchasers and previous owners, enabling analysis of which firms are acquiring rental buildings. Third, it incorporated additional data sources, including an Altus dataset on average rents, to analyze acquisition strategies across firms, including building location, size, and type, establishing a baseline for future analysis of impacts on rent levels and eviction rates.

Results

The project produced a student poster, ‘Financialization of Vancouver’s Apartment Stock,’ establishing a baseline dataset for tracking the acquisition of rental buildings by financialized landlords in the region.