Buying a home feels out of reach for 76% of non-owners, poll shows
For the majority of Canadians who don’t own property, the dream of homeownership is feeling elusive, a new CIBC report suggests.
According to the report released on Thursday, 76 per cent of Canadians who aren’t homeowners say that entry into the housing market feels out of reach.
However, the results of the report are not all gloomy.
More than half of Canadians without property (56 per cent) say they are not yet giving up hope that they will own their own home someday.
The two biggest reasons for homeownership feeling out of reach were overpriced housing markets (70 per cent) and the inability to save for a down payment (63 per cent), according to the survey.
Only 28 per cent of respondents without property said they were currently saving for a down payment.
For most non-owners (55 per cent) homeownership only feels possible with inheritance or a gift from a family member.
John Pasalis, Realtor and broker at Realosophy Realty, said he does not find the numbers surprising. “If you consider some of the biggest cities in Canada, in Toronto (for example), home prices are roughly ten times the median household income. And that’s a huge problem because home buyers, when they’re getting a mortgage, can’t really borrow much more than four and a half times their income,” he said.
Pasalis said skyrocketing rent prices could be behind people’s inability to save for a down payment.
“How do you save, as a first-time buyer, when your rent costs are surging and it’s so expensive just to even rent an apartment? I think this partly explains why many can’t even save. They’re getting hit on both. Not only are home prices high, but they can’t save for a down payment.”
With high home prices in major Canadian cities like Toronto and
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