BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax
Also known as: SVT · BC SVT · Speculation Tax
An annual BC tax on residential property held in specified urban areas not used as a principal residence or rented at least 6 months — rates double for the 2026 tax year to 1% (Cdn citizens / PRs) and 3% (foreign owners + satellite families).
The BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax (SVT) applies to residential properties in specified urban areas that are not used as a principal residence and not rented for at least 6 months in a calendar year. Every residential property owner in a specified area must file an annual declaration by March 31 of the following year, even if they qualify for an exemption — failure to declare results in the maximum tax being assessed.
For the 2026 tax year (declarations due March 31, 2027), the SVT rate doubles from its 2019–2025 level: 1.0% for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, 3.0% for foreign owners and "satellite families" (households where the majority of worldwide income is reported outside Canada). These rates are published on the BC government SVT tax-rates page — see /codex#bc.svt.rates_2026 for the Fact Bank entry. Specified areas include Metro Vancouver, the Capital Regional District, and several other urban centres — the boundary list is updated periodically by regulation.
Related terms
- Property Transfer Tax — A provincial tax payable to the Province of British Columbia on the registered fair market value of any residential property title transfer, calculated using marginal-rate brackets.
- BC Foreign Buyer Additional PTT — A 20% additional Property Transfer Tax payable by foreign nationals, foreign corporations, and taxable trustees buying residential property in five specified BC regional districts.
- Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act — BC legislation effective May 1, 2024 in most municipalities, restricting short-term rentals (under 90 nights) to the operator's principal residence plus one secondary suite or ADU on the same property.
- BC Home Flipping Tax — A provincial tax on profit from residential property sales held under 730 days, effective January 1, 2025 — 20% if held under 365 days, phasing linearly to 0% over days 366-729.
See also
Use any of these formats. Codex content is licensed under CC BY 4.0 — attribution required.
@misc{bronsonjob-bc_svt_rates_2026,
author = {Job, Bronson},
title = {{BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax rates (2026 tax year)}},
howpublished = {BC Real Estate Codex},
year = {2026},
url = {https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.svt.rates_2026},
urldate = {2026-06-04},
note = {Fact ID: bc.svt.rates_2026, version 2.}
}Job, B. (2026). BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax rates (2026 tax year). *BC Real Estate Codex*. Retrieved 2026-06-04, from https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.svt.rates_2026
BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax rates (2026 tax year) — Bronson Job PREC, BC Real Estate Codex (2026-06-04). https://www.bronsonjob.com/codex#bc.svt.rates_2026
Fact id: bc.svt.rates_2026 · v2 · machine-readable: /api/v1/facts/by-id/bc.svt.rates_2026.json
Verified sources (2)· re-verified 2026-06-04Click to expand
Every claim on this page is sourced to a primary government, regulator, or industry-association URL. We re-verify quarterly; the verification dates below show when each source was last confirmed against the live government page.
- BC Governmentretrieved 2026-06-04Speculation and Vacancy Tax — tax rateshttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/speculation-vacancy-tax/how-tax-works/tax-rates
- BC Governmentretrieved 2026-06-04Updates to Speculation and Vacancy Tax — 2027 rate increasehttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/tax-updates/updates-taxes-tax-credits/speculation-and-vacancy-tax-updates
bc.svt.rates_2026 · v2View in Codex →License: This definition is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: "BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax", BC Real Estate Glossary by Bronson Job, https://www.bronsonjob.com/glossary/speculation-vacancy-tax.
