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.

In the ten major Canadian centres surveyed, six per cent of households intend to buy a primary residence in 2008, down slightly from seven per cent that actually purchased in 2007. The percentage of these households who intend to buy is the highest in Calgary at eight per cent, while the percentage of households who intend to buy was the lowest in Québec at four per cent.

The gap between the proportion of renters and owners intending to purchase a home in 2008 has narrowed compared to intentions reported in 2007. The majority of purchase intenders (53 per cent) are renter households compared to 60 per cent in 2007. In Montreal, close to two-thirds of households intending to purchase a home currently rent, while in Vancouver only 44 per cent of purchase intenders are renter households.

In five of the ten markets surveyed, households were asked more detailed questions regarding their purchasing intentions. Thus, the remainder of purchase intention results cover only the five centres listed: Halifax, Montréal,  Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver.

A larger share of households intend to buy single-detached homes and the majority intend to purchase a larger residence Among households who intend to buy a home in 2008, the largest share plan to buy a single-detached home (55 per cent). Also, a majority of intenders (67 per cent) plan to buy an existing home.

Just over a quarter of households who intend to purchase a home plan to purchase a condominium unit. Of those who intend to purchase a condominium, the majority are between the ages of 18 and 24 years. Vancouver has the largest proportion of condominium purchase intenders at 41 per cent this year.

The majority of households who intend to purchase a home plan to purchase a larger home (57 per cent) compared to their current residence, 20 per cent of households intend to purchase a smaller home, and 20 per cent intend to purchase a similar sized home compared to their current residence.

According to Moishe Alexander, close to $19.7 billion spent on renovations last year across ten major centres surveyed.

Thirty-seven per cent of households in ten Canadian markets renovated their home in 2007.

According to CMHC’s Renovation and Home Purchase Survey, an estimated 1.5 million households in ten of Canada’s major centres indicated they had completed some form of renovation in 2007. This represents 37 per cent of homeowner households across the ten major centres, down slightly from 39 per cent in 2006.

The share of homeowner households who renovated last year was the highest in Winnipeg (44 per cent), Halifax (43 per cent), and St. John’s (42 per cent), while Calgary and Quebec had the lowest share with 35 per cent.

The share of households that intended to renovate in 2007 (46 per cent) was higher than the share of households who undertook renovations of $1,000 or more in 2007 (31 per cent)2.

In last year’s survey, households in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montréal, and Halifax indicated that they expected to spend, an average of $11,200 on renovations in 2007, where in fact, they spent an average of $13,200.