Ownership rate shrinks for the first time in nearly half a century

Home ownership rate falls in 11 out of 13 Canadian provinces

By Ephraim Vecina

07 Sep. 2018

For the first time in nearly 5 decades, home ownership across Canada fell as 11 out of 13 provinces saw their rates shrinking since the last measurements performed by Statistics Canada in 2011, according to the latest report from Point2 Homes.

The 2016 StatsCan census found that the ownership rate nationwide declined by 1.2%, down to 67.8%.

Ending a nearly half-century streak of growth in the proportion of Canadians owning their homes, the results came amid an increasing number of Canadians renting. Approximately 4.6 million people nationwide were renting their homes in 2016, representing 32.2% of the population (up from 31% in 2011).

Only Quebec (61.3%) and the Northwest Territories (53.7%) were the provinces that saw home ownership increase since 2011. Nunavut, suffering from elevated costs and an almost crippling supply shortage, had the lowest rate nationwide (20%).

Caledon in Ontario boasted the highest ownership rate (90.8%) of the 100 metropolitan markets studied by Point2 Homes. On the other hand, Montreal had the lowest proportion of home owners (37%).

Point2 Homes noted that multiple trends have converged to pull the rate of home ownership downward.

“The burst of China’s speculative bubble sent shock waves through the global economy… with especially large effects on Canada’s resource-based, export-driven economy,” the report explained.

“The collapse of oil prices and the country’s heavy reliance on exports to its Asian partner pushed Canada into a recession. The ensuing economic deceleration affected wages, hence lowering people’s purchasing power. Home prices, however, kept going up, leading to the decline in homeownership rates revealed by the 2016 StatsCan numbers.”