Canadian Housing Statistics Program (CHSP)

Residency status of residential property, category

Residency status is assigned based on whether the owner is a person or an entity included in the classification of 'business and government' (such as corporations, governments, sole proprietorships and partnerships, and other legal types). A person is considered a resident if his or her primary dwelling is in the economic territory of Canada. Conversely, a person is considered a non-resident if his or her primary dwelling is outside the economic territory of Canada. An entity classified as 'business and government' is considered a resident if it engages in economic activity from a location in the economic territory of Canada. Conversely, it is considered a non-resident if it does not engage in an economic activity from a location in the economic territory of Canada.

Residential property refers to all land and structures intended for private dwelling purposes, whether on a permanent or a temporary basis. A residential property may have more than one owner.

The variable Residency status of residential property is a property level characteristic based on the variable Residency status of property owner. Assignment of the residency status of the property owner(s) to the property level results in the following two classifications: Residency ownership and Residency participation.

The data for this variable are reported using the following classifications and/or lists:

  • Residency ownership

    Residency ownership is defined as follows: A property is classified as resident-owned when the majority of owners are defined as residents. Conversely, a property is classified as non-resident owned when the majority of owners are defined as non-residents. When there is an equal number of resident and non-resident owners for the same property, the property is classified as resident-owned.

  • Residency participation

    Residency participation is defined as follows: A property is classified as having non-resident participation, when at least one owner is defined as non-resident. Conversely, when there are no non-resident owners, a property is classified as having resident owners only; it is deemed to be exempt from non-resident participation.

    Context note: the residency status of the property owner is determined by a methodology relying on a range of data sources used to determine whether or not property owners are residents of Canada. Key amongst these factors is linking an owner to recent Canadian tax data activity; when linking to tax data is successful, an owner is highly likely to be classified as a resident of Canada. However, additional information such as an indication of emigration from Canada to a foreign country, or identifying a foreign student with a study permit in Canada, or a lack of presence on the last Canadian Census of Population may conversely lead to an owner being designated as a non-resident of Canada.

    While this linkage methodology is proven to be effective and accurate, in rare cases, true residents can be assigned non-resident status when they are not found in these administrative sources. The residency participation classification should be used with the knowledge that all linkage errors are assigned to non-resident participation. The following case where two owners of a property are true residents but one owner cannot be linked to administrative sources, under the Residency participation definition, the property would be classified as having non-resident participation, while under Residency ownership definition, the property would be classified as being resident-owned.

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