Canadians boosting down payments with family money
Nearly 70 per cent of buyers used cash from relatives to help in purchase
TORONTO — A majority of Canadian home buyers are relying on family money to boost their down payments in order to enter the housing market amid high borrowing costs, according to a recent survey by Zolo.
The 2024 Canada Housing Market Report, which interviewed 800 Canadians who bought homes in 2023, found that 68 per cent used money from relatives to cover at least part of their down payment. Of those, 48 per cent used money from parents or relatives and 20 per cent used money from an inheritance.
An increasing number of Canadians are also pursuing co-ownership to pool resources and enter markets they otherwise would not be able to afford.
The study found that 35 per cent bought a home with either family (28 per cent) or friends (seven per cent). The rest bought homes with their partners (38 per cent), by themselves (22 per cent) or with others (five per cent).
Joint-ownership, however, has some risks, cautions mortgage expert Angela Calla. She advises that homebuyers consider the long-term implications before choosing co-ownership, such as what happens if one person wants to sell and the other doesn’t, or if one person’s romantic situation changes.
She said it’s essential to hire a real estate lawyer to know your rights and lay out the steps that will be taken in case of a disagreement.
“You need to be able to discuss and document the hard stuff with a lawyer before getting an approval,” Calla said in the report.
More homebuyers are also searching for the best rates, with 34 per cent shopping for a mortgage lender in 2023 compared to just 26 per cent in 2022. Thirty-eight per cent are using mortgage brokers to secure the lowest possible interest rate, making them the fourth-most-used real estate professionals in 2023.
"Working with a broker can lead to cost savings and better long-term financial outcomes,” Calla said. “Date the rate, marry the house. You don’t need to complicate it. Time in the market will always outweigh timing the market.”
Homebuyers are also having to compromise on their must-have features in order to afford a home. The most important features to buyers were location (53 per cent), type of home (53 per cent) and square footage (50 per cent).
Ironically, those were also some of the features that buyers compromised on the most, with size of certain rooms (36 per cent), square footage (34 per cent) and type of home (32 per cent) leading the way.
“People should not expect their next home to be their dream home, but they could eventually get there through deferral of gratification and making good financial decisions,” real estate expert Daniel Foch said in the report.
Whether the trend of using creative strategies to enter the housing market will continue into 2024 depends on when and if the central bank reduces interest rates, Foch said.
“I think the important theme in 2024 is how long we spend at current interest rates and what happens to the economy that makes the Bank of Canada cut rates,” said Foch.