Ontario millennials need to save for over 20 years for down payment on a home: report

• By Mike Heddle
• Posted Monday, Dec 05, 2022 12:02 pm

Ontario millennials need to save for over 20 years for down payment on a home: report

A new report shows house prices need to drop by more than $500,000 for millennials to be able to afford a home in Ontario.

Generation Squeeze, a charitable organization fighting for generational fairness in the country, recently released a 56-page reported called “Straddling the Gap 2022,” which looks at the disparity between home prices and earnings across the country.

The study analyzes what Canada’s “primary goal” should be for home prices by looking at the gap between earnings and average home prices from 1976 until 2021, which was the last year available to procure data from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

After analyzing CREA’s data and comparing it to Statistics Canada’s data for annual income, the report concludes prices should stall “for many years ahead – or even continue to fall moderately.”

“The number of years of work required to save [for] a 20 [per cent] down payment on average priced homes has grown in alarming ways in many regions,” the report reads.

Across Ontario, average home prices were just shy of $900,000 last year.

Meanwhile, average income of Ontarians between the ages of 25 and 34 years has stayed nearly the same for decades, lingering at an average of roughly $50,000 a year. According to the latest data from StatsCan, the yearly income was $50,800 in 2020.

In order for millennials to buy a home in the province, the report says average home prices need to drop by...[READ MORE]