2 Articles on Affordability: 1) Home Co-Ownership Opt-in and 2) Almost Half Of Canadians Living Paycheque To Paycheque
More Canadians Opting For Home Co−Ownership Amid Affordability Crunch: Royal Lepage
Courtesy of Barie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Sep 1st, 2023
Ritika Dubey, The Canadian Press
Affordability is the top reason cited among Canadians who opted for co−ownership with family members and friends, according to a new Royal LePage survey.
The survey, published Thursday, revealed six per cent of respondents co−owned their property with people who weren’t their significant other. Of those, 76 per cent cited affordability as the top reason, followed by the need to buy a bigger property.
In the online survey, conducted by Leger between Aug. 10 and Aug. 21, 89 per cent of those co−owned homes were purchased with a family member, seven per cent with friends and eight per cent with someone who is not a friend or family.
Co−ownership has existed for years, mostly driven by necessities such as help with raising children or supporting parents or grandparents in a multi−generational setting, said Karen Yolevski of Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd. in an interview.
That seems to be changing, she said. The historical, family−related reasons for multi−generational homes took third spot on the list of reasons for co−ownership.
Higher borrowing rates are making it harder for young families to qualify for mortgages and people are increasingly turning to family members for help buying a home, she said.
Forty−four per cent of co−owners lived with people they bought with together. A single−family detached home was the most common type of home purchased, according to the survey.
Realtors are seeing the shift on the ground as well, Yolveski said.
“It’s a trend that’s come about primarily from the affordability of homes, and we’re starting to see this materialize in terms of transactions.”
In a previous Royal LePage survey, 23 per cent of real estate professionals said they have seen a jump in the number of homebuyers opting for co−ownership compared to pre−pandemic times.
While the common examples could be parents helping their adult children by co−signing a mortgage, Yolveski said there also is a pool of people looking for properties to make investments and join forces with someone else to increase their purchasing power.
That could include owning recreational property, such as cottages and cabins.
“People are making decisions to purchase (those properties) to be able to use them as frequently as they want, but not take on the entire amount of cost or burden,” she said.
But that may not be true for all homebuyers.
While the survey wasn’t broken down geographically, Yolveski said co−ownership may be an attractive option in an expensive real estate market, including Toronto and Vancouver where people are finding it harder to qualify for mortgages without a co−owner.
Co−owning a property with friends or family is not simple, she noted, and requires a lifestyle change and in−depth conversations over financial, legal and personal obligations.
“The key is going to be setting up a contract that protects both sides,” she said. “It should clearly spell out everyone’s financial obligations, maintenance obligations, as well as what will happen if the property needs to be sold.”
Almost Half Of Canadians Living Paycheque To Paycheque As Tory Support Grows: Poll
Courtesy of Barie360.com and Canadian PressPublished: Sep 1st, 2023
A poll suggests nearly half of Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque as the cost of living crisis continues to squeeze household budgets, and young people are more likely to say their finances are in poor shape.
It also suggests the Conservatives, who are hammering home a message about affordability, are gaining popularity, with 38 per cent of respondents saying they’d vote for the Tories if an election were held today.
And support for the Liberals, who focused their recent cabinet retreat on the housing crisis, is slipping.
The poll by Leger shows that 47 per cent of respondents say they’re living paycheque to paycheque, including 53 per cent of those aged 18 to 35 and 57 per cent of people between the ages of 35 and 54.
The poll suggests high prices are hitting people in Atlantic Canada, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan the hardest — more than half the respondents in those regions say they’re just getting by on each paycheque, compared to 38 per cent of Quebecers and 42 per cent of people from British Columbia.
Sixty per cent of respondents described their household finances as good or very good, while 36 per cent said their finances were poor or very poor. Another four per cent said they were not sure.
People over the age of 55 were most likely to say they were faring well compared to younger age groups, and more men than women reported that their finances were in good shape.
Nearly half of respondents under the age of 35 reported being worried about losing their job in the next year, at 47 per cent, compared to 35 per cent of people aged 35−54. Men were more worried about losing their job than women, according to the data. Anxieties were highest in Ontario and lowest in Quebec.
Younger people were also most likely to say they think Canada is in an economic recession. In all, 61 per cent of people who took the poll said yes to that question, while 16 per cent said they don’t know and 23 per cent said no.
Leger surveyed 1,597 Canadians last weekend. The poll cannot be assigned a margin of error because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
It also suggests the Conservative party’s support is at 38 per cent −− three percentage points higher than it was in the last poll in late July.
That continues a trend that has seen the Tories rising in Leger polls since late May, when they were at 31 per cent, and puts support for the party four points higher than it was during the last federal election in 2021.
Liberal support among decided voters was nine points behind the Conservatives at 29 per cent, the same as it was in July, and the NDP was top choice for 18 per cent of those polled. Support for the New Democrats was down two points from July.
Still, 34 per cent of those polled say they’re either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government. Another 24 per cent said they were somewhat dissatisfied, while 35 per cent said they were very dissatisfied.
Only 35 per cent of women polled said they were satisfied with the government, while 57 per cent said they were dissatisfied.
Patricia is the Business Mentor and owner of Grow Vantage and a Past President of the Barrie Chamber of Commerce. She applies over 30 years of business experience (from start-up to corporate) to mentor entrepreneurs. Since 2011, she has held over 6,500 coaching and training sessions in-person and online. Through Ask For Directions Training, her entrepreneurial training program (and parent company Grow Vantage), and as a business coach, she works with start-ups who are new (or who have lost traction) to design, launch and grow their businesses. Along with 20 other expert instructors she teaches strategies in marketing, sales, communications, and finance, as well as practical techniques to increase productivity, and manage their businesses. In other words, everything entrepreneurs need to learn to grow and run their businesses successfully, and avoid the costly mistakes they can't even see coming - that lead to delays in growth and getting stuck.
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