Over the last 16 months, Covid-19 has impacted many aspects of our lives, including our wallets. Canadians and Canadian homeowners are showing their strongest financial fitness in history, and have indicated that Covid helped them save and buy their home sooner than expected. Sagen and Royal LePage conducted a survey to get a snapshot of Canadians homeownership attitudes and financial fitness. According to this study, after a decrease in first time home buyers from 2015-2019, there has been an increase in those looking to get into their first home in 2020-2021. Homeownership of millennials especially, has risen from 60% in 2019 to 63% in 2021. Also, during Covid, 53% of First time home buyers bought in the last 12 months during Covid, and 63% plan to buy in the next 24 months. The increasing prices across the country also showed that many home buyers had increasing down-payments from their “Covid savings” with an average downpayment of $96,000 for the average home.
Some of the other main highlights of the study were the following:
- 62% of respondents nationwide said that before buying their first home, they worried they might miss out on a property they wanted because of an insufficient down payment, reflecting a five point increase compared to the same survey question in 2019.
- 75% of first-time homebuyers in Toronto and 69% in Vancouver reported feeling worried that they would not have a large enough down payment to purchase a home (68% and 58% in 2019, respectively).
- In Montreal, 63% of survey respondents felt worried about the size of their down payment before purchasing their first home, in line with the national average.
- First-time homebuyers in all regions, with the exception of Alberta and the Prairies, reported higher rates of anxiety compared to the same survey in 2019.
- Nationally, of those who lived with their parents before purchasing their first home, 15% said they delayed their parents’ plans to downsize as a result.
If you’re interested in more information from this study, you can download a copy of it by clicking here.
“Don’t wait to buy real estate. Buy real estate and wait.” ~ Will Rogers
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