Canadian Funding Corp. Reviews CMHC Statistics

Buyers between 25 and 44 years of age make up the lion’s share (59 per cent) of households that intend to buy a home in 2008. More than one in five households that intend to buy are between 45 and 54 years of age, while the same proportion are over 54 and below 25 years of age.

Likewise, the majority of renter households that intend to buy are between 25 and 44 years of age (46 per cent).

A large share of intenders will be repeat buyers

More than half (57 per cent) of purchase intenders will be repeat buyers. Indeed, buying intenders’ main motivation for purchasing a residence was the need for a larger/better residence (33 per cent). The second most popular response was to change from renting/build equity or to have a residence of their own (26 per cent).

The majority of purchase intenders that are first time buyers are between the ages of 25 and 34, with a household income between $40,000 to just under $60,000. As for repeat buyers who intend to purchase a home in 2008, the majority are between the ages of 35 and 44, with a household income over $100,000.

Close to half of intenders will plan to make a down payment of more than 20 per cent Close to half of households that intend to buy a home are planning to make a down payment of more than 20 per cent of the expected value of their purchase. The main source of down payment funds are household savings for 40 per cent of potential home buyers, while equity from the present/previous residence is also a popular option with 30 per cent.

The Canadian Funding Corp looks at where people are spending money on renovations.

Homeowner households across the ten major centres surveyed spent an average of $12,800 on renovations in 2007, an increase of over $1,000 compared to the average spent in 2006. The highest average amount spent on renovations was Calgary at $15,600, an increase of $3,000 compared to 2006. The average amount spent of renovations was the lowest in Winnipeg at $7,900, down from an average of $9,100 in 2006.

A total of $19.7 billion was spent on renovations last year across the ten major centres, up from the estimated $17.3 billion in 2006. The largest share came from Toronto where close to $7.1 billion was spent in 2007. More than $3.6 billion was spent on renovations in Montréal.

People living in older homes tend to spend more on renovations. In 2007, an average of more than $17,000 was spent on renovations in homes built before 1920, while homeowners in homes built between 1971 and 1980 spent on average about $10,500.

Close to half of homeowner households spent as planned on renovations

Close to half (46 per cent) of renovating households reported that the cost of their renovation project was as budgeted. On the other hand, more than a third (38 per cent) of households went over budget.

Savings were the main form of payment by homeowner households for their renovations

Across the 10 centres surveyed, three quarters of households who undertook renovations in 2007 paid for the work from savings, a similar share to 2006, while 20 per cent used credit cards or a line of credit. Of the households that paid for the renovations from savings, on average, $11,900 was spent on the renovation, while those that used a credit card or a line of credit spent, on average, $13,500.

The Canadian Funding Corporation has noticed a few interesting trends in terms of who is renovating, and what they are doing.

The majority of homeowner households renovated to update/add value or prepare to sell.  The main reason given by households across all ten centres for renovating in 2007 was that they wanted to update, add value, or to prepare to sell their home. The second most popular reason for renovating was that the dwelling needed repairs.

Renovations to increase the energy efficiency of homes remained popular in Halifax (10 per cent) and Winnipeg (8 per cent) in 2007 despite a decrease in the incidence compared to 2006. Close to a third of households in Ottawa stated that their home needed major repairs, the largest share across the ten centres.

Close to a third of homeowner households remodelled a room

Thirty-one per cent of renovator households remodelled a room, making this the most popular type of renovation completed in 2007. Painting/wallpapering and installing hard surface flooring/wall-to-wall carpeting were undertaken by 27 and 26 per cent of renovator households last year, respectively.

There are some differences by centre in the proportion of renovations undertaken last year:

• Fences, driveways, patios, swimming pools or other major landscaping renovations were more popular in Ottawa (20 per cent) and Edmonton (20 per cent), than in Montréal (14 per cent).
• Hard surface flooring and wall-to-wall carpeting were more popular in Edmonton (36 per cent) and St. John’s (35 per cent) than in Québec (16 per cent).
• Door and window renovations were more popular in St. John’s (30 per cent) than in Vancouver (14 per cent).