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Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Young families are shrinking their mortgages. But does this mean they are priced out?
Younger Canadian families are bucking the national trend and reducing their overall mortgage debt, figures from Statistics Canada suggest, but the decrease may not be all good news. After hitting a peak in the third quarter of 2022, average mortgage balances among families where the primary income earner is aged 35 or younger have fallen by about $15,500, according to a report out Tuesday from Toronto-Dominion Bank citing data from Statistics Canada. Even accounting for any seasonal variation, when comparing the first quarter of 2023 to this first quarter of 2025, there was an 8.5 per cent decline (or about $10,400 less on average) in mortgage balances among younger Canadians, said Maria Solovieva, TD economist and author of the report. All other age groups have seen a steady increase in household mortgage debt since the second quarter of 2020, Statistics Canada data show. It is likely many younger households are unable to access the housing market altogether due to affordability challenges, Solovieva said. After home prices hit their peak in March 2022, following the frenzy of homebuying amid lower interest rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of Canada started raising interest rates and home sales began to soften. Solovieva said younger Canadians have been prioritizing reducing their debt obligations in the face of rising borrowing costs. About 35 per cent of young adults are likely to rent, compared with less than a quarter of older age groups, according to Statistics Canada's 2024 Canadian Social Survey. There may also be other reasons for the drop in mortgage balances among young people. It is possible some younger Canadians are purchasing cheaper homes or own their homes outright, especially if they have received financial gifts from their parents, Solovieva said. Since the total value of real estate assets for younger Canadians has grown since the third quarter of 2022, it suggests more people in this age group are receiving financial help to buy homes than those who may be buying less expensive homes, Solovieva said. In the meantime, older Canadians are taking on more debt, although there is no sign they are taking on more investment properties or renovations to account for this, she said. In fact, Statistics Canada reported recently that households aged 55 to 64 years increased their mortgage balances by more than eight per cent from the first quarter of 2024 to the same period in 2025, while those aged 65 years and older increased their mortgage balances by nearly nine per cent. Older Canadians are expected to pass down $1 trillion to their heirs over the next few years, according to the most recent data from the Chartered Professional Accountants Canada. Many wealth advisers have reported these wealth transfers are already arriving in the form of early inheritances; in most cases to help adult children purchase their first homes. A 2024 Bank of Canada report also found more than 20 per cent of first-time home buyers received gifts to help make their down payments. Younger first-time home buyers were even more likely to receive gifts when purchasing their homes. This could exacerbate an existing trend, Solovieva said. Data show the lowest-income young households have seen their debt-to-income ratio balloon from 244 per cent before the pandemic to 446 per cent in Q1 2025. 'A lot of wealth (is) built through real estate, (so) somebody who is not in the market is left out,' said Solovieva, noting existing homeowners have largely benefited from rising real estate values over time. 'It's basically going to continue on as long as we still have this dynamic of unaffordability.' The best mortgage rates in Canada right now The best reverse mortgage rates in Canada right now Solovieva does not expect this trend of waning mortgage balances to entirely reverse in the near future but does anticipate it to level off as immigration levels decline, which could cool growth in housing prices. The latest report from the Canadian Real Estate Association revealed the national average sale price was down 1.3 per cent year-over-year to hit $691,643 in June. • Email: slouis@ Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
CTV News
08-07-2025
- Climate
- CTV News
Who is more likely to use air conditioners? Statistics Canada reveals survey results
A cat sleeps in an apartment window beside an air conditioner in Burnaby, B.C., on Aug. 5, 2023. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press) The summer heat is more likely to be a problem for renters and people with lower incomes, a new survey suggests. The survey, released Tuesday by Statistics Canada, found that renters had less access to air conditioners (52 per cent) than homeowners (76 per cent). Households with higher incomes, or those earning more than $150,000 before taxes, were more likely to report using an air conditioner at 82 per cent. Among households with lower incomes, or those earning less than $50,000 before taxes, 55 per cent had air conditioners. Use of cooling equipment, including air conditioning, during the summer rose slightly to more than two-thirds (68 per cent) of Canadian households in 2025 compared to 64 per cent in 2021. Moreover, if you live in a newer home, you're more likely to have an air conditioner. The survey found that 80 per cent of homes built in 2001 or later had an air conditioner, compared with 58 per cent of homes constructed before 1960. Statistics Canada used data from the Canadian Social Survey collected between Feb. 14 and April 6. It involved people at least 15 years old who live off-reserve in Canada's 10 provinces.
CBC
10-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Rent and affordability driving Sask. renters to the polls this election
Social Sharing Shane Prpich has been a renter his whole adult life and says it has never been less affordable. That's driving him to the polls this federal election. The 48-year-old Saskatoon native has been renting in the city since 2005, after a stint renting in Calgary. Prpich said he used to be a world traveller — a benefit of renting — but those days are long gone. "I had a comfortable living, rent was affordable, my wages were decent, I had disposable income, I traveled, I went to university [and] I could afford to go to university," Prpich said in a phone call interview with CBC. Prpich has rented all over Saskatoon. In his early days he paid around $400 a month. Fast forward to today and he pays $1,119 a month — soon going up to $1,325 — for a place in the city's northeast. "Energy, food, clothing, everything skyrocketed in my lifetime, but the worst thing has always been housing, and rent just keeps going up and up and up.… I've never really had an opportunity to buy a home," he said. "Right now my salary is $60,000 a year. I'm at the average Canadian salary, so if I can't afford to buy a home, the average Canadian can't afford to buy a home." While Saskatoon has some of the cheapest rents nationally at $1,276 for a one bedroom and $1,516 for a two bedroom, the year-over-year increase in price for both is more than six per cent, according to the latest data from for the month of March. Regina's average rent is $1,242 for a one bedroom and $1,486 for a two bedroom. Year-over-year rent for a one bedroom decreased by two per cent. Increasing housing supply, core issue Prpich said his vote is for policy that reflects more and cheaper housing supply. Forty-five per cent of Canadians are concerned about their housing affordability, according to the most recent Canadian Social Survey done by Statistics Canada in 2024. Statistics also indicate 69 per cent of Canadians in the Prairies face one or more housing challenges. Organizations like Regina's Anti-Poverty Ministry want the federal government to recommit to increasing social housing stock in the province. "There was a program from 1974 to 1993 which was phased out and ultimately cut off in 1993 where there were significant federal commitments to expand the social housing stock nationally," Gilmer, who works with the anti-poverty ministry, said. "We really believe that this is the time for the federal government to step back in, in a significant way." Gilmer said he has clients paying more than 80 per cent of their entire income on rent — in some cases more than 100 per cent. He's pushing for more social housing with rent based on income, following the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) guidelines of a household not paying more than 30 per cent of their income on shelter related costs. ACORN calls for national rent freeze In light of the tariffs Canada faces, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) wants to see a national rent freeze for at least three months from whatever party forms government. ACORN is a national union of low-to-middle income renters with offices across the country. "We saw that in the pandemic the government acted too late and so many people lost their housing and, you know, it caused even more chaos, so we want, we need whoever is elected to be proactive on these things," national ACORN representative Nichola Talyor said. Taylor said the organization also wants to see a national rent control plan to ban "predatory practices" like fixed term leases. Gilmer, from the anti-poverty ministry, echoed those thoughts on rent control. "The problem is that we've had several major [rent] spikes over the course of the last 30 years and if we had had reasonable rent control legislation in place, we wouldn't be dealing with the situation that we are now," Gilmer said. Derek Cameron, a renter and PhD student in Saskatoon, said he's also open to rent control, but still wants to see policy that thinks long term, nudging municipalities to loosen rules that make building housing more complicated. "I think things like rent control and stuff like that, they certainly can work, but they do need to be paired with things that are going to make it easier to build," Cameron said. For now, Cameron said he's undecided on who he's going to vote for.
