The housing market in Canada has heated up considerably over the past year - even more so than in previous years.
National home sales rose throughout the second half of 2020 and reached an all-time record in March 2021. In June 2021, the national average home sale price increased by a whopping 25.9% year-over-year, according to Canadian Real Estate Board's monthly housing report.
Homeownership and affordability continue to be hot-button topics in Canada, especially for millennials (25 to 40 year olds) who are aspiring to buy homes.
To see what home ownership trends may exist in Canada, Borrowell, a fintech company that offers free credit report monitoring, analyzed over 713,000 credit reports of its members to understand how the average number of mortgages per consumer (an indication of home ownership, especially for younger buyers who have not yet paid off their mortgage) vary across age groups and cities. The 713,000 credit reports were of members who had credit scores of 600 and above, the minimum credit score required by the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for mortgage loan insurance, so that figures were a reflection of those who could potentially qualify for a mortgage based on their credit score.
According to the data, on average, 1 in every 3 consumers who had a credit score of 600 or above has a mortgage on their credit report. That said, this varies notably by city and age group, with Toronto having the lowest home ownership rates amongst older millennials at 25% - with Burnaby in third place with just 28%.
Prairie cities like Edmonton and Calgary having the highest home ownership rates amongst older millennials at 39%.
Based on over 713,000 credit reports from consumers with a credit score of 600+:
- Toronto has the lowest rate of home ownership (0.22 average mortgage trades per consumer), and the second highest average home price among cities in the study
- Regina has the highest rate of home ownership, roughly 1.7x more than Toronto (0.38 average mortgage trades per consumer vs. 0.22), along with the lowest average home price among cities in the study
- Toronto and Vancouver have the lowest rates of home ownership amongst older Millennials aged 30-39 (0.24 average mortgage trades per consumer)
- Edmonton and Calgary have the highest rates of home ownership amongst older Millennials, roughly 1.6x more than Toronto and Vancouver (0.39 average mortgage trades per consumer vs. 0.24)
- Middle-aged Canadians who are 40-59 years old are 1.4x more likely to have a mortgage than older Millennials who are 30-39 years old (0.50 average mortgage trades per consumer vs. 0.35)
- Middle-aged Canadians are 5x more likely to have a mortgage than younger Millennials and Gen Z consumers aged 20-29 years old (0.50 average mortgage trades per consumer vs. 0.10).
