By The Canadian Press

City of Vancouver says 2018 empty home tax cut number of homes sitting vacant

Feb 6, 2019 | 10:13 AM

VANCOUVER — The number of vacant properties in Vancouver has fallen by 15 per cent in one year and the city says just over half of those previously empty homes have been returned to the rental market.

The statistics are from initial returns of Vancouver’s 2018 empty homes tax.

The figures show 922 properties were listed as vacant last year, compared with 1,085 in 2017, the first year of the initiative.

Of the 163 properties reclassified as occupied, the city says more than half of those are listed as rentals with tenants.

Homeowners who failed to submit a declaration by this month’s deadline face a late payment fee of $250 or a fine amounting to one per cent of the assessed value of the property, if it remains undeclared.

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The empty homes tax was developed to encourage homeowners to make unused properties available to tenants who face a near-zero vacancy rate in Vancouver.

The Canadian Press