Many Canadians are willing to compromise on their home purchases if it means ensuring affordability, survey finds
The residential building construction price index went up by 5.3% on a quarterly basis in Q2, according to Statistics Canada.
This accompanied a non-seasonally adjusted national average home price of $665,850 in June, mainly due to the influence of red-hot markets like the Greater Toronto Area and Greater Vancouver.
With home prices on a similarly upward trend despite the anticipated cooling effects of rate hikes, a recent survey by RE/MAX Canada found that as much as 68% of Canadians are willing to make “at least one sacrifice” to get an affordable home.
Among these compromises are relocation (64%), housing type (56%), co-ownership (29%), and renting out a portion of their property for extra income (27%).
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“Despite affordability challenges across the cost-of-living spectrum, Canadians are still eager to engage in the housing market – even if it means making some sacrifices in the short-term to achieve affordable homeownership,” said Christopher Alexander, president of RE/MAX Canada.
In the RE/MAX poll, 43% of Canadians said that elevated home prices were the most formidable barriers to entry into the market, while 35% cited higher costs of living. Near-equal portions of 24% said that the main factors preventing them from buying a home were insufficient salary, market volatility, and rising interest rates.
