Children of homeowners more likely to buy homes

December 29, 2023



House and condominium apartment prices have increased markedly in recent years. There are various reasons why younger Canadians are able to buy homes, and one of them is what some call the "Great Wealth Transfer."
A recent study by Statistics Canada found that financial help from parents is one of the reasons why the adult children of homeowners are more likely to own homes compared to those whose parents don't own homes. Other factors include having better connections in social networks and reaching higher levels of education, leading to higher incomes for the adult children of homeowners.
In 2021, adult children (millennials and Generation Z individuals born in the 1990s) of homeowners were twice as likely to own homes compared to the adult children of non-homeowners. Specifically, the home ownership rate was 17.4 per cent for adult children of homeowners and 8.1 per cent for adult children of non-homeowners.
If the parents owned multiple properties, their adult children were nearly three times more likely—with a home ownership rate of 23.8 per cent—to be homeowners in 2021 than the adult children of non-homeowners.
Even when considering factors like adult children's income, age, and province of residence, the positive connection between parents' property ownership and their adult children's likelihood to own a home remained. These findings highlight a link between parents' housing wealth and their children's ability to become homeowners.
Visit Statistics Canada website for full report.