The Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professionals (“CAAMP”) released a new housing report in June of 2015 called, “A Profile of Home Buying in Canada.” The report is largely based on survey of over 800 Canadians who purchased a home between 2013 and 2015.
The information in the CAAMP survey tells us about home buying in Canada:
- Homes purchased each year: 620,000
- First-time buyers (45%): 280,000
- Second purchasers (20%): 130,000
- Third-time purchasers plus (33%): 210,000
First-time buyers purchase 45% of the homes sold each year in Canada.
First-time homebuyers buy more houses than other groups. Most of these people are between 25 and 34 years old. People buying their third or subsequent homes are in the 45 to 64 age group.
As far as the type of home purchased, most homes (57%) are single, detached homes. Purchases of condominium apartments amount to 19% of the total (120,000 per year), with very wide variations across the provinces.
The average price of a home sold in Canada is about $347,400. Prices range from less than $100,000 (6% of purchases) to more than $1 million (about 1% of purchases).
The average price of a home sold in Canada is about $347,400.
On average, the homebuyers in the survey made down payments of about $119,000, equal to one-third of the price of the homes. For first-time buyers, down payments averaged $67,000, about 21% of the average purchase price.
The largest source for all buyer groups is personal savings. Personal savings accounted for about 57% of all down payments. Loans and gifts from family members account for 7% of down payments overall.
Buyers report doing relatively little shopping when they chose their real estate and mortgage professionals.
About 52% of mortgages were from banks, with 34% from mortgage brokers. The remainder come from credit unions, life insurance or trust companies, and other lenders. First-time buyers are more likely to use mortgage brokers (39%) than the other buyer groups.