Nearly a quarter of condos in Vancouver are empty or occupied by non-residents in some dense areas of downtown, a signal that investors play a significant role in the city’s housing market.
And the city overall has a much higher rate of empty apartments and houses than other Canadian cities, with a rate closer to places like New York and San Francisco at the height of their mortgage crisis in 2010.
http://www.bnn.ca/News/2013/3/21/Nearly-one-in-four-Vancouver-condos-empty.aspx#.UUx0jjMK_Q8.facebook
