October 10, 2012

Single Homebuyers are on the Rise

by Ratehub.ca

Have you seen your neighbours recently? Take a good look. The numbers from Statistics Canada say you’ll find more one-person households than couples with children. The number of single Canadians purchasing homes has been trending upward every year. In fact, the percentage of one-person households has almost tripled since 1961, from 9.3 per cent to 27.6 per cent.

If the single homebuyer group (3.6 million households) continues to grow, they will surpass ‘couples without children’ (3.9 million households) as the largest household-by-household-type in Canada.

“A lot of single homebuyers are first-time home buyers and they are buying condos,” says Toronto real estate agent Eugene Mezini of Insidercondos.com. According to the latest stats from Royal LePage, the average price of a Canadian condo is $243,607. Compared to the average price of a two-storey home at $403,747, a condo is realistically the best entry point for someone looking to purchase a home by themselves.

“Our young buyers are getting help from their parents to help finance their home purchases. A huge reason [many single homebuyers have been hitting the market] has been the persistence of low Canadian mortgage rates,” says Mr. Mezini. He believes that we’ll continue to see single homebuyers hit the real estate market, as long as mortgage interest rates remain low in the future.

Real estate developers have picked up on this growing trend by filling the majority of their condo projects with small one-bedroom units that cater to the single homebuyer.

So, the next time you see your next door neighbour mowing the lawn or carrying heavy groceries, you should offer a hand because they may not have another person to call on for a little assistance.  

Other notes:

• More than half of single male buyers purchase their first home on their own (55%)
• Nearly a third of single women purchase their first home by themselves (31%)
• Quebec has the largest percentage of single-person households (32%)
• Nunavut has the lowest percentage of single-person households (18%)

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