B.C.'s speculation tax is coming into effect in the new year for more than a dozen communities for the first time, including several communities in the Okanagan and Shuswap. 

The speculation and vacancy tax (SVT) is a tax on residential properties that are not being used. it's designed to turn vacant homes into homes that are rented or otherwise lived in. 

The tax is being expanded to 13 communities in 2025, including Vernon, Coldstream, Salmon Arm, Lake Country, Peachland, Penticton, Summerland and Kamloops. 

Residential property owners in these communities will need to file a declaration of their property for the first time, joining 51 other communities that are subject to the tax this year.

The province will mail residential property owners where the tax applies in January 2025, instructing them to file their declaration before the March 31 deadline.

The funds generated from the tax go towards creating affordable housing in communities where the tax is in place. The B.C. government said $75.2 million was raised by the tax in 2023, and the government invested $1.8 billion towards housing in the SVT areas in 2023-24. 

The SVT was launched in 2018, and the government noted that more than 99 per cent of B.C. property owners remained exempt from the tax in its sixth year, and the majority of revenue came from non-B.C. residents. 

The province said the SVT has helped add more than 20,000 units to the long-term rental market in Metro Vancouver since 2018.