The cohort’s share of the largest cities’ populations is actually growing
Housing demand among Canadian millennials in the country’s urban markets is still poised to grow despite elevated costs, according to recent analysis by RBC Economic Research.
This is especially true in the largest cities, which “continue to be magnets for young, mobile talent.”
“The number of people aged 20-34 is growing at a healthy clip in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. For every millennial leaving a major Canadian city for more affordable digs in the same province, there are between seven and 12 millennials moving in from another country or province,” the RBC study noted.
“There’s no evidence to suggest that high housing costs are gutting the ranks of millennials in Canada’s most expensive cities.”
The number of millennials in these three cities actually saw its strongest increase in 12 years in 2018, with the demographic growing by 2.9%, representing 96,000 new young professionals.
Toronto saw the bulk of this increase with a 4.1% increase (58,000 more millennials) last year. Montreal saw the addition of 22,000 more, while Vancouver saw its millennial cohort grow by 16,000 individuals.
Moreover, millennials have consistently accounted for a significant portion of these cities’ populations, from 21.8% in 2006 to 22.1% in 2018 overall in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. To compare, the share of millennials in the nationwide population ticked up from 20.3% to 20.4% during the same time frame.
“So millennials are in fact slightly over-represented in the largest cities, especially in Vancouver and Toronto where their share of the population stood at 22.8% last year.”
