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“Canada’s lack of beneficial ownership transparency makes our entire country an attractive destination for money laundering,” according to the report. While some vacant properties in Toronto might sit as investments for legitimate money, a worrying amount slips past regulators who do not really know who owns what, nor how much is being used for money laundering and tax evasion, it said.

The report follows a similar one on Vancouver in 2016 that revealed almost half of the city’s most valuable property owners were unknown and hiding behind shell companies, trusts and nominee owners. This led to greater enforcement from the provincial government, including proposing a registry for beneficial owners for property.

The Toronto housing market has ranked among the least affordable in the world and became a target for speculative investment. The provincial government brought in a foreign-buyers tax in 2017 and instituted audits of real estate speculators in the region.

The report argues that more measures should be implemented to shed light on the extent of anonymous ownership in the market, which includes requiring disclosure of beneficial owners of real estate as a prerequisite for any properties transfers.

The federal budget tabled on Tuesday included a proposal to spend $16.9 million on strengthening the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada that would help boost scrutiny of the real estate and casino sectors with a focus on British Columbia.

With assistance from Natalie Obiko Pearson

Bloomberg.com