Nearly 5% of Vancouver homes deemed vacant amid housing crunch

Toronto

ABOUT 5 per cent of Vancouver homes stood empty or underutilised in a city grappling with skyrocketing home prices and soaring rents, according to data released on Wednesday, making their owners subject to a so-called empty home tax.

The western Canadian city has rolled out a raft of measures to cool a red hot market and improve housing affordability in the country's most expensive real estate market.