A report looking at homeownership trends in Canada is noting that millennials experienced the largest decrease in homeownership rates during the mid-2000s.

In a report released Monday, real estate website Zoocasa examined homeownership rates and average home prices across Canadian provinces from 2011 to 2021, based on data from Statistics Canada. 

It found the rate of homeownership has dropped overall and millennial Canadians, defined by Zoocasa as people born between 1981 and 1996, saw the largest drop.

Of those millennials, people between the ages of 25 and 29 saw their rate of homeownership drop to 36.5 per cent in 2021 from 44.1 per cent in 2011.

People aged 30 to 34 saw their homeownership rate drop 11.7 per cent over the same period, the researchers found, while those aged 35 to 39 per cent with an 8.3 per cent drop.


Younger millennials were identified by Zoocasa as having difficulty entering the real estate market. Another recent survey by Zoocasa found that 67 per cent of millennials indicated they have delayed purchasing a home due to affordability barriers.

The report found that people under the age of 40 had a homeownership rate lower than the 66.5 per cent national average. The group of people between the ages of 40 and 44 was the closest to the national average, while those aged 45 and older surpassed the national average. 

WHO SAW HOMEOWNERSHIP RATES RISE?

The highest rate of homeownership was among Canadians aged 65 to 69, the report found, at 75.6 per cent.

Canadians between the ages of 75 and 84, meanwhile, were found to be the only demographic with rising rates of homeownership between 2011 and 2021. 

LARGER MARKETS 

Zoocasa’s report found that prospective buyers were being “squeezed out of major markets.”

Quebec was found to have the lowest homeownership rate at 59 per cent, despite having comparatively more affordable home prices than other provinces, the report said. Between 20111 and 2021, the province’s home ownership rate fell only 1.3 per cent, the smallest change. 

The second lowest levels of homeownership rates were held by both B.C. and Nova Scotia at 66.8 per cent, the report said, noting that provinces saw “significant drops from 2011.” 

“In British Columbia, the homeownership rate fell by 3.2 per cent from 2011 to 2021, and one explanation for this is its rapid price acceleration,” the report said. 

The report found that in 2021, the average home price in B.C. was $910,800, rising 80 per cent from $506,100 in 2011.


Ontario was found to have had the largest increase in average national home prices “by far” between 2011 and 2021.

The report noted that the homeownership rate dropped in Ontario by 3.1 per cent between 2011 and 2021, as average incomes have not risen alongside mortgage payments. 

MORE AFFORDABLE MARKETS

Provinces with more affordable housing markets had higher rates of ownership, the report found.

Newfoundland and Labrador was found to be the province with the highest rate of homeownership and had the second-lowest average home price in 2021 at $263,900. 

The homeownership rate in Newfoundland and Labrador was 75.7 per cent in 2021, decreasing by 1.8 per cent from 77.5 per cent in 2011, the report said. During that time the average home price rose by only 9.3 per cent, which was the smallest growth rate among all provinces.

New Brunswick had the second highest rate of homeownership across provinces at 73 per cent, according to the report. The province also had the lowest average home price in 2021 at $239,900. 

The only other provinces with homeownership rates above 70 per cent in 2021 were Alberta and Saskatchewan, the report said, with both provinces coming in just over the threshold.