2019 Modern Family Home Ownership Trends Report
2019 Modern Family Home Ownership Trends Report
A new report released today by Mustel Group and Sotheby’s International Realty Canada highlights the impact of escalating costs of living on young families across the country’s major metropolitan real estate markets. The report sheds light on the financial challenges faced by urban Canadian families, including the decision between saving for a home versus saving for retirement, and provides insight into how those obstacles are being overcome.
Mustel Group and Sotheby’s International Realty Canada’s “Modern Family Home Ownership Trends Report: Financing the Canadian Dream” found that for “modern family” homeowners in every metropolitan area surveyed, the main obstacle to saving for a home is the cost of basic living expenses, cited by 33% as their top challenge. Many are also undertaking significant financial, career and personal measures to successfully attain home ownership. A notable 20% of modern family homeowners delayed saving for retirement, 19% secured a job with a higher salary while 14% added a part-time or freelance job to full-time work. 12% chose to delay the decision to have a child in order to save for a home, and 9% moved back in with family.
Survey findings also reveal how young urban family homeowners utilize diverse strategies and funding sources to build their down payment. The most common sources of funding are personal savings or cash (used by 71%), a financial gift, inheritance or living inheritance (52%), borrowing from RRSPs (31%) and proceeds from the sale of real estate (25%). For the majority that benefitted from a financial gift, those funds comprised less than 30% of their down payment.
