Can a non-resident own a BC vacation property?
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Direct answer
It depends where the place is and when the contract was signed, because the federal ban is drawn on a map rather than on a price. The federal ban reaches Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, and does not reach anywhere outside them. Many BC vacation regions (including parts of the Sunshine Coast, the Gulf Islands, parts of the Kootenays, and rural Vancouver Island) fall OUTSIDE the Act's geographic scope and remain available to non-Canadian buyers. However, popular vacation markets including the Okanagan Valley (Kelowna CMA) and Whistler/Squamish (Squamish-Lillooet RD inclusion varies) are inside CMAs/CAs and ARE covered. Even where the federal Act does not prohibit the purchase, two BC taxes can still apply. The Speculation and Vacancy Tax reaches property in a designated area that nobody occupies under its rules, at 1.0% of assessed value for a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and 3.0% for a foreign owner or satellite family in 2026, rising to 4.0% for that second group in 2027. And the additional 20% transfer tax applies in the five Specified Areas. The third layer that used to sit here, the federal Underused Housing Tax, was repealed for 2025 and every year after. So the annual carrying cost on an unoccupied home is lower than it was, and still not small.
Primary sources
- Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act · Government of Canada · retrieved
- Underused Housing Tax (UHT) · CRA · retrieved
- Speculation and Vacancy Tax · BC Government · retrieved
Backed by Fact Bank entries
- Federal Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act — Federal Act prohibiting most non-Canadians (and entities controlled by non-Canadians) from purchasing residential property in Census Metropolitan Areas (CMA) and Census Agglomerations (CA).
- BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax rates and credit (2026 tax year) — BC Speculation and Vacancy Tax rates and the tax credit that offsets them.
- BC Foreign Buyer Additional Property Transfer Tax — 20% additional PTT in specified BC areas (Metro Vancouver, Capital Regional, Fraser Valley, Nanaimo Regional, Central Okanagan) on residential property purchased by a foreign national, foreign corporation, or taxable trustee.
- Federal Underused Housing Tax repealed for 2025 onward — The federal Underused Housing Tax charged 1% a year on the taxable value of vacant or underused Canadian residential property, mostly against non-resident non-Canadian owners, and required an annual return even from owners who owed nothing.
Verified sources (3)· re-verified Aug 2, 2026Show sources
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.
- CMHCretrieved May 8, 2026Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Acthttps://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/professionals/housing-markets-data-and-research/housing-research/consultations/prohibition-purchase-residential-property-non-canadians-act
- Government of Canadaretrieved May 8, 2026Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act, S.C. 2022, c. 10, s. 235https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/p-25.2/
- Government of Canadaretrieved Aug 2, 2026· published Feb 4, 2024Government extending the ban on foreign ownership of Canadian housinghttps://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2024/02/government-announces-two-year-extension-to-ban-on-foreign-ownership-of-canadian-housing.html
ca.foreign_buyer_ban · v3View in Codex →Verified sources (5)· re-verified Aug 8, 2026Show sources
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 Aug 8, 2026Speculation and Vacancy Tax — tax rateshttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/speculation-vacancy-tax/how-tax-works/tax-rates
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 8, 2026Speculation and Vacancy Tax credit for B.C. residentshttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/speculation-vacancy-tax/tax-credits/bc-residents
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 8, 2026Taxable areas for the Speculation and Vacancy Taxhttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/speculation-vacancy-tax/how-tax-works/taxable-areas
- BC Governmentretrieved Aug 8, 2026Updates 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 Governmentretrieved Aug 8, 2026Budget 2025 tax changes — speculation and vacancy tax rates double and the resident credit rises to $4,000https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/tax-updates/budget-changes/2025-budget-tax-changes
bc.svt.rates_2026 · v4View in Codex →Verified sources (1)· re-verified Sep 5, 2026Show sources
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 Sep 5, 2026Additional Property Transfer Tax for Foreign Entitieshttps://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/taxes/property-taxes/property-transfer-tax/additional-property-transfer-tax
bc.ptt.foreign_buyer_additional · v1View in Codex →Verified sources (2)· re-verified Aug 20, 2026Show sources
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.
- CRAretrieved Aug 20, 2026What has changed: Underused Housing Taxhttps://www.canada.ca/en/services/taxes/excise-taxes-duties-and-levies/underused-housing-tax/what-has-changed.html
- Government of Canadaretrieved Aug 20, 2026Bill C-15 (45-1), Budget 2025 Implementation Act, No. 1: Royal Assenthttps://www.parl.ca/documentviewer/en/45-1/bill/C-15/royal-assent
ca.uht.repealed · v1View in Codex →Related questions
See also
