A third of Canadian first-time buyers got help from their parents, with an average gift of $82,000 - and journalist Cara Stern says that needs to change
My wife and I have helped our kids every so often. Small inheritances at the time of our parent's passing were shared among us, though not equally. A few years ago, we took a small portion of our house’s equity and gave it to them, thinking their lives with small children would benefit more at the time than the (hopefully) long wait for our passing. These are the things parents may do for their kids. My son has pursued home ownership outside of the urban areas. (Are you kidding!? He and his wife live on the borders of being off-grid out in the bush!) Their house was not a lot of money, comparatively. My daughter and her husband live with us with their two boys in a multi-generational home. It is another way we can help out. I am surprised more grandparents don’t consider this option. The rest of the world sees it as the norm, and in North America, we gotta have our own place. I am aware of the difficulty of splitting this arrangement equally in a will, looking forward to our demise. Nevertheless, it is a real workable solution for all concerned.
I would guess most parents are generous when it comes to their adult kids. I may be judging the issue with my experience, and I haven’t looked into the research. I don’t think knowing the data would change anything for me.
I have always thought that multi-generational housing was an amazing idea. When I was a teenager in the 1980's I spent a summer in a house in Austria that was 500 years old. The main floor was the family living area. The 2nd floor was the family living area. The walk out basement was the Grandparents living area, and the attic was the newly wed quarters. It made sense to me then, and still does. Child care, family care, and elder care all in one location. (It also had space for the family business)
For the same reason no one wants to live in a “box in the sky” remember the old saying, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. To misuse the idiom owning a house is as CDN as apple pie. Secondly I no longer stay with my parents when we visit - it doesn't take long for my parents to become my parents again.
Stop whining and get a second job, like we did. Like our grandparents did. Heck, my grandparents could never afford to own a home in smalltown BC, and my other grandparents only built their own home after they retired in their ‚60s.
Where’s this belief that it was so much easier in the olden days? Lots of affordable homes outside the major centres across this country, maybe move there.
This and the boomer generation continue to spoil and coddle their kids and they’ve never done without. And it shows.
So sick of the pedantic hissy fits. Don’t like something? Run for office and make it better. But don’t ask the status quo which created this mess to fix it for you. There’s never been a more capable, educated generation in this country, yet all we here is the constant whining. Enough!
Says the person who could afford a home on one income - why do you there are so many homeless encampments, people barely afford rent much less a million dollar mortgage.
This household was supported on three jobs; check your facts. Your inaccurate rant does little to dissuade from the truth. People got choices. Whining and sticking your hand out only exacerbates the issue.
Can't seem to edit my comment but I was going to clarify that the issue is the house prices have vastly outstripped incomes - it’s quite normal in early years money is tight and that over time income and wealth increase. But today that is no longer true as mentioned elsewhere for many families, can’t even afford rent much less a down payment. The housing market is broken in Canada and all the traditional solutions simply don’t work.
What's "broken" is Canadian attitudes towards wanting "it all, now!" Rob, your parents didn't accept the bunk you write about. They scrimped, did without, saved and thrived. You are a litany of excuses.
When did salaries ever match house prices in this country? When was rent ever affordable in any big city? I don’t recall any time in history where my rent was cheap or when it was assumed we’d all be able to afford a house.
Again though, many affordable options exist in Fort St. John (BC), Moose Jaw (SK), Windsor (NS), and I just saw a house for sale yesterday in the Quebec Townships for $225,000…which works out to a mortgage payment of less than $300/month. It’s not housing that needs to change…it’s people’s attitudes.
Our homeless, those without mental disease, are a product of Canadian OK-ness with declining personal responsibility. We build them special housing, afford them free food, remove societal costs from them. Frankly, homelessness is freedom...and we accept it, encourage it (by "build it and they will come") and by legislating it into existence.
For the addicted, they need to accept their fate: quit or die. For the mentally challenged, a return to institutionalization is the only solution. For the others, workfare.
Harsh, very harsh. But we must end the free lunch for choosing no personal responsibility. That too is habit forming.
I have often wondered what the up-side for governments to pursue policies that create a socialized risk and a personalized benefit. Other than the obvious vote-buying I mean.
Wow some pretty harsh comments here - but the fact is housing and rents has never been more unaffordable - that isn't my opinion but the opinion of the experts whose job it is to research and report on this. Long term this is really bad for the economy in so many way.
Why is home ownership a presumed right? Look at the history of mankind. Home ownership is a modern aberration. Don't get me wrong, I love owning our home, but nobody gave my wife or I a free ride. Poor parents and poor parents. We have a nice place because we worked hard for the past 30 years. Interest rates are significantly below historical norms even now. Stop whining. Your jealousy just oozes off the page. As my Dad said to me growing up, 'life's not fair. Get over it'.
Deleted my previous comment, you highlight the issue that is facing many young people if your parents won the housing lottery and then you’ll probably be able to buy if they didn’t you won’t. Long-term this is not good for the economy.
No parent "won the housing lottery". They were simply smarter, more committed to home ownership, saved harder and did without. "If they didn't"...you can still own the Winnipeg starter home I describe above.
Don't disagree but The bulk of CDNs live in BC or GTA where house prices are an insane 12-14 times income affordable only the the highest income earners. If you're on twittter I highly recommend follow Ron Butler
There are a multitude of "entitled" in that "bulk of CDNs" you describe. Most are unprepared to move, overly spent, underly saved and whiners.
Were they like many immigrants, they'd be one helluva lot more committed to home ownership than they are. But complaining is so much more fun and the thought of moving so "not happening".
I was recently reminded that Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world—or would be if we had been smart about managing our resources instead of mismanaging them. Millennials do not have to apologize for wanting a house of their own. Grandparents and their children who want to live together should do that. Everyone should have a choice. It pains me that we have squandered our resources to the extent that younger generations have to live in poverty.
In 1950 the population of Canada was about 14 million. Today it is about 39 million. While we all celebrate immigration and multiculturalism as being such a positive force for the country, clearly it has resulted in many problems for the citizens including and inadequate supply of housing combined with depressed wages to afford rents. The US has the same problem although it is much worse in Canada as more of the population is concentrated in the high population centers. It is really the cost of housing in the high population centers, those places most filled with immigrants, where rents are too high.
But the problem as I see it... the Wall Street powered globalist corporatist controlled system has stacked the system so residential real estate is an investment game. Existing housing is snatched up by investors instead of investing in the building of new housing, and the investors benefit from a too-small supply to jack up rents. I lend to small business owners and every one of those personal financial statements includes rental property assets. The tax incentives, plus the equity plus the rental income returns that are taxed at capital gains rates are a clear attraction to investing in those selfish returns instead of investing in, for example, business enterprise that might create good paying jobs.
What is needed is a change to the taxation and accounting rules that make investing in existing stock of residential real estate less attractive, to be replaced with incentives for investing in building of new stock while also spurring investment in domestic job creation.
And we need to pull back on the open borders immigration game to a merit-based system and one that adds new people at a rate equal to the increase in jobs and housing.
Scale matters. As example we received help for our 1st home late 70s. A 1,100 bilevel $34,000 facing 12% rates. Needless to say every nickle (loney today) saved to pay down.
More importantly it delayed starting a family half a dozen years. That has been a societal shift: older parents fewer children.
Old folk gotta stop with the ‘quit whining’. This author is young but smart, and is just beginning to see how broken things are. I’m Gen X, and am constantly thankful to have narrowly missed the home ownership situation we have now.
Old folk complacency, thinking we’re in a real democracy (our voting system has been shot sonce we passed 20 million in population), not keeping their eyes on what our politicians were doing, buying ridiculous rhetoric about immigration (Diversity is our strength! I’d prefer some Unity right now please) and laying a great foundation for the corruption now found under every rock. She’s right we have a broken society, but when you think it through we can’t vote ourselves out of it. Can’t vote housing prices down, only a market correction will do that, and one big enough to balance the math won’t happen unless there’s a major financial crisis. We need government reform the likes of which you’re not allowed to talk about these days, but I wish Tara would start talking about it!
A significant amount of "home ownership" handwringing is bogus and the result of expensive personal choices. Quityerbitchin. Let's look harder at this millennial...
Our millennial (1981-1996) author needs to accepts some facts: Canadian home ownership in 1981 was 62%. in 2011...69%. Altho it's dropped to 67% in the past 5 years, FAMILY HOME OWNERSHIP IS RISING. Assuming she's a "late bloomer" (born in 1996) she's almost 30 years old today and should have saved at least 10% of her earnings since age 20--let's say 10% of $500,000...or $50,000 down. Average Canadian journalist earns $62,500 or $5,200/mo. She can afford a starter Winnipeg home at about $300,000. But....
NO WAY I could save 10% of my gross earnings. Why not.? Your parents did. Choose to ditch the Starbucks and embrace a bit of momentary denial.
NO WAY! I don't like Winnipeg. Your choice...but it's a reasonably priced home ownership market...and there are many others. Want the bright lights of Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal? Work harder, save more and target for age 40.
NO WAY! I'm entitled to something better than a "starter" home. No you aren't.
NO WAY! I don't have $50,000 down and can't qualify for the mortgage. Too bad. You didn't save enough in previous years.
NO WAY! Those immigrants are the problem not me. Bogus again. The above prices, mortgages and rates are all current as of today.
Home ownership is about SAVING...and NOT entitlement. Get at it...and get your kids at it, now. But don't wait for "the guvment" to solve your problem.
My wife and I have helped our kids every so often. Small inheritances at the time of our parent's passing were shared among us, though not equally. A few years ago, we took a small portion of our house’s equity and gave it to them, thinking their lives with small children would benefit more at the time than the (hopefully) long wait for our passing. These are the things parents may do for their kids. My son has pursued home ownership outside of the urban areas. (Are you kidding!? He and his wife live on the borders of being off-grid out in the bush!) Their house was not a lot of money, comparatively. My daughter and her husband live with us with their two boys in a multi-generational home. It is another way we can help out. I am surprised more grandparents don’t consider this option. The rest of the world sees it as the norm, and in North America, we gotta have our own place. I am aware of the difficulty of splitting this arrangement equally in a will, looking forward to our demise. Nevertheless, it is a real workable solution for all concerned.
I would guess most parents are generous when it comes to their adult kids. I may be judging the issue with my experience, and I haven’t looked into the research. I don’t think knowing the data would change anything for me.
I have always thought that multi-generational housing was an amazing idea. When I was a teenager in the 1980's I spent a summer in a house in Austria that was 500 years old. The main floor was the family living area. The 2nd floor was the family living area. The walk out basement was the Grandparents living area, and the attic was the newly wed quarters. It made sense to me then, and still does. Child care, family care, and elder care all in one location. (It also had space for the family business)
For the same reason no one wants to live in a “box in the sky” remember the old saying, a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. To misuse the idiom owning a house is as CDN as apple pie. Secondly I no longer stay with my parents when we visit - it doesn't take long for my parents to become my parents again.
Stop whining and get a second job, like we did. Like our grandparents did. Heck, my grandparents could never afford to own a home in smalltown BC, and my other grandparents only built their own home after they retired in their ‚60s.
Where’s this belief that it was so much easier in the olden days? Lots of affordable homes outside the major centres across this country, maybe move there.
This and the boomer generation continue to spoil and coddle their kids and they’ve never done without. And it shows.
So sick of the pedantic hissy fits. Don’t like something? Run for office and make it better. But don’t ask the status quo which created this mess to fix it for you. There’s never been a more capable, educated generation in this country, yet all we here is the constant whining. Enough!
Says the person who could afford a home on one income - why do you there are so many homeless encampments, people barely afford rent much less a million dollar mortgage.
This household was supported on three jobs; check your facts. Your inaccurate rant does little to dissuade from the truth. People got choices. Whining and sticking your hand out only exacerbates the issue.
Can't seem to edit my comment but I was going to clarify that the issue is the house prices have vastly outstripped incomes - it’s quite normal in early years money is tight and that over time income and wealth increase. But today that is no longer true as mentioned elsewhere for many families, can’t even afford rent much less a down payment. The housing market is broken in Canada and all the traditional solutions simply don’t work.
What's "broken" is Canadian attitudes towards wanting "it all, now!" Rob, your parents didn't accept the bunk you write about. They scrimped, did without, saved and thrived. You are a litany of excuses.
When did salaries ever match house prices in this country? When was rent ever affordable in any big city? I don’t recall any time in history where my rent was cheap or when it was assumed we’d all be able to afford a house.
Again though, many affordable options exist in Fort St. John (BC), Moose Jaw (SK), Windsor (NS), and I just saw a house for sale yesterday in the Quebec Townships for $225,000…which works out to a mortgage payment of less than $300/month. It’s not housing that needs to change…it’s people’s attitudes.
Our homeless, those without mental disease, are a product of Canadian OK-ness with declining personal responsibility. We build them special housing, afford them free food, remove societal costs from them. Frankly, homelessness is freedom...and we accept it, encourage it (by "build it and they will come") and by legislating it into existence.
For the addicted, they need to accept their fate: quit or die. For the mentally challenged, a return to institutionalization is the only solution. For the others, workfare.
Harsh, very harsh. But we must end the free lunch for choosing no personal responsibility. That too is habit forming.
I have often wondered what the up-side for governments to pursue policies that create a socialized risk and a personalized benefit. Other than the obvious vote-buying I mean.
Ian, you nail the obvious. "We're nice" and "Vote for me" are synonyms.
Wow some pretty harsh comments here - but the fact is housing and rents has never been more unaffordable - that isn't my opinion but the opinion of the experts whose job it is to research and report on this. Long term this is really bad for the economy in so many way.
Why is home ownership a presumed right? Look at the history of mankind. Home ownership is a modern aberration. Don't get me wrong, I love owning our home, but nobody gave my wife or I a free ride. Poor parents and poor parents. We have a nice place because we worked hard for the past 30 years. Interest rates are significantly below historical norms even now. Stop whining. Your jealousy just oozes off the page. As my Dad said to me growing up, 'life's not fair. Get over it'.
And yes, we're going to help our two daughters when it comes time for houses. Might as well start the jealous churn now.
Deleted my previous comment, you highlight the issue that is facing many young people if your parents won the housing lottery and then you’ll probably be able to buy if they didn’t you won’t. Long-term this is not good for the economy.
No parent "won the housing lottery". They were simply smarter, more committed to home ownership, saved harder and did without. "If they didn't"...you can still own the Winnipeg starter home I describe above.
Don't disagree but The bulk of CDNs live in BC or GTA where house prices are an insane 12-14 times income affordable only the the highest income earners. If you're on twittter I highly recommend follow Ron Butler
There are a multitude of "entitled" in that "bulk of CDNs" you describe. Most are unprepared to move, overly spent, underly saved and whiners.
Were they like many immigrants, they'd be one helluva lot more committed to home ownership than they are. But complaining is so much more fun and the thought of moving so "not happening".
I was recently reminded that Canada is one of the wealthiest countries in the world—or would be if we had been smart about managing our resources instead of mismanaging them. Millennials do not have to apologize for wanting a house of their own. Grandparents and their children who want to live together should do that. Everyone should have a choice. It pains me that we have squandered our resources to the extent that younger generations have to live in poverty.
In 1950 the population of Canada was about 14 million. Today it is about 39 million. While we all celebrate immigration and multiculturalism as being such a positive force for the country, clearly it has resulted in many problems for the citizens including and inadequate supply of housing combined with depressed wages to afford rents. The US has the same problem although it is much worse in Canada as more of the population is concentrated in the high population centers. It is really the cost of housing in the high population centers, those places most filled with immigrants, where rents are too high.
But the problem as I see it... the Wall Street powered globalist corporatist controlled system has stacked the system so residential real estate is an investment game. Existing housing is snatched up by investors instead of investing in the building of new housing, and the investors benefit from a too-small supply to jack up rents. I lend to small business owners and every one of those personal financial statements includes rental property assets. The tax incentives, plus the equity plus the rental income returns that are taxed at capital gains rates are a clear attraction to investing in those selfish returns instead of investing in, for example, business enterprise that might create good paying jobs.
What is needed is a change to the taxation and accounting rules that make investing in existing stock of residential real estate less attractive, to be replaced with incentives for investing in building of new stock while also spurring investment in domestic job creation.
And we need to pull back on the open borders immigration game to a merit-based system and one that adds new people at a rate equal to the increase in jobs and housing.
Scale matters. As example we received help for our 1st home late 70s. A 1,100 bilevel $34,000 facing 12% rates. Needless to say every nickle (loney today) saved to pay down.
More importantly it delayed starting a family half a dozen years. That has been a societal shift: older parents fewer children.
Old folk gotta stop with the ‘quit whining’. This author is young but smart, and is just beginning to see how broken things are. I’m Gen X, and am constantly thankful to have narrowly missed the home ownership situation we have now.
Old folk complacency, thinking we’re in a real democracy (our voting system has been shot sonce we passed 20 million in population), not keeping their eyes on what our politicians were doing, buying ridiculous rhetoric about immigration (Diversity is our strength! I’d prefer some Unity right now please) and laying a great foundation for the corruption now found under every rock. She’s right we have a broken society, but when you think it through we can’t vote ourselves out of it. Can’t vote housing prices down, only a market correction will do that, and one big enough to balance the math won’t happen unless there’s a major financial crisis. We need government reform the likes of which you’re not allowed to talk about these days, but I wish Tara would start talking about it!
You voted for this and now you're getting it good and hard.
You will end up living like the Soviets after the war and like it, or else.
If you keep complaining the government will find some way to tie you up in court, accused of hate speech.
The CBC will demonize you.
You will look back at these years as the good times, when you weren't cold and hungry.
A significant amount of "home ownership" handwringing is bogus and the result of expensive personal choices. Quityerbitchin. Let's look harder at this millennial...
Our millennial (1981-1996) author needs to accepts some facts: Canadian home ownership in 1981 was 62%. in 2011...69%. Altho it's dropped to 67% in the past 5 years, FAMILY HOME OWNERSHIP IS RISING. Assuming she's a "late bloomer" (born in 1996) she's almost 30 years old today and should have saved at least 10% of her earnings since age 20--let's say 10% of $500,000...or $50,000 down. Average Canadian journalist earns $62,500 or $5,200/mo. She can afford a starter Winnipeg home at about $300,000. But....
NO WAY I could save 10% of my gross earnings. Why not.? Your parents did. Choose to ditch the Starbucks and embrace a bit of momentary denial.
NO WAY! I don't like Winnipeg. Your choice...but it's a reasonably priced home ownership market...and there are many others. Want the bright lights of Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal? Work harder, save more and target for age 40.
NO WAY! I'm entitled to something better than a "starter" home. No you aren't.
NO WAY! I don't have $50,000 down and can't qualify for the mortgage. Too bad. You didn't save enough in previous years.
NO WAY! Those immigrants are the problem not me. Bogus again. The above prices, mortgages and rates are all current as of today.
Home ownership is about SAVING...and NOT entitlement. Get at it...and get your kids at it, now. But don't wait for "the guvment" to solve your problem.
NO WAY!