Property flipping in B.C.: What the data shows [Video]

With B.C. poised to introduce a flipping tax, new data from Statistics Canada is shedding light on how many homes are bought and rapidly re-sold – and how profitable the venture has been.

The federal agency looked at sales of residential properties from 2019 to 2021, finding that 2.8 per cent of homes that sold during that period were flipped. StatsCan notes that the definition of flipping, for its purposes, is buying a property and re-selling it within a year. In 2021, a total of 2,095 homes were flipped in the province, according to data released Tuesday.

“Based on this definition, residential properties can be flipped by owners who make no improvements to the house, by investors who renovate to seek capital gains or by individuals who need to sell quickly because of changing life circumstances such as a death, divorce or job change,” the report says.

StatsCan also looked at homes that …