Homebuying outranks wedding planning for Canadian youth, RBC survey says
Canadian youth are prioritizing their efforts to break into the housing market over other traditional markers of adulthood like getting married, according to a survey released Wednesday from RBC.
The results show homeownership remains an aspiration despite affordability barriers boxing out many of the youngest generation.
Some 78 per cent of single or unmarried first-time homebuyers under 30 said they’re prioritizing saving for a home, up from 70 per cent of those above the age of 30, according to the report.
For 40 per cent first-time buyers under 30 years old, owning a home is seen as a critical part of their five-year plan. That outranks buying a car (33 per cent), travel (30 per cent) and getting married (24 per cent).
The findings come from RBC’s survey via Cint of 1,000 Canadian adults between June 27 and July 3.
Those priorities come up against the realities of Canada’s unaffordable housing market.
While the Bank of Canada has embarked on an easing cycle that’s set to lower borrowing costs in the months to come, high home prices and elevated interest rates have made it harder for homebuyers to qualify for mortgages in recent years.
Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News after the central bank’s first 25-basis-point rate cut in June showed 45 per cent of respondents felt they’d never be able to afford a home, no matter how much interest rates dropped. Some 78 per cent indicated that owning a home in Canada was a privilege reserved only for the rich.
Housing affordability improved somewhat nationally in the second quarter of the year as borrowing costs fell more than home prices appreciated, according to a report last week from National Bank of Canada.
That marked the second consecutive quarter of
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