More adults are living with their parents, and it may be due to high home prices. The Royal LePage 2021 Boomer Survey (it’s a thing) found one in five Boomers have kids at home currently. Breaking that number down, over half of those are adults 25 and older. A significant number of these Boomers said they don’t expect these kids to ever leave home.
One In Five Canadian Boomers Have Children Living At Home
A surprising amount of Boomers have children living at home, including those under 18. At the national level, the survey shows 20% of Boomers have children living with them. It was a little higher in BC (21%) and Ontario (23%). Quebec (17%) managed to come in much lower, and also happens to be more affordable. Affordability likely plays a role here, since the rate is higher in expensive cities.
Canadian Boomers With Children Living At Home
The rate of Canadian Boomers with children living at home.
Source: Royal LePage; Better Dwelling.
Looking at major cities in these markets may confirm those assumptions. The rate of Boomers with children living at home is much higher in Vancouver (28%) and Toronto (26%). More affordable Montreal (20%) was in line with the national average.
Now that’s the total of children, including minors. It’s not all that interesting that minors live with guardians. What is interesting is how many of those children were adults. Not college-aged ones either, but prime workforce-aged adults.
More Than Half of Children Living With Boomers Are Adults
More than half of the children living with Boomers are adults, 25 years or older. At the national level, 12% of Boomers identified having adult children 25 years or older at home. Similar rates were found in BC (12%), and it was a little higher in Ontario (13%). More affordable Quebec (11%) came in lower, but not by much.
Canadian Boomers With Adult Children Living At Home
The rate of Canadian Boomers with adult children living at home. The demographic is broken down into college-aged (18 to 24 years old), as well as working aged (25 and older).
Source: Royal LePage; Better Dwelling.
In Canada’s most expensive cities, the rate of Boomers with adult children jumps. Nearly a fifth of Boomers said they had adult children at home in Vancouver (20%). The rate was a little lower in Toronto (16%), but still represented more than half of kids living with Boomers. Montreal (13%) is the only relatively affordable city, and was just above the national rate.
One In Five Boomers With Kids At Home Don’t See Them Moving Out
Over a fifth of Boomers with children at home don’t expect them to move out… ever. Across Canada, 21% of Boomers with children living at home don’t see them ever moving. The rate is much lower in BC (12%) and Quebec (17%). Ontario (28%) is much higher, coming in a third above the national rate.
Canadian Boomers Don’t Expect Their Children To Leave
The percent of Canadian Boomers that live with children, and don’t see them ever leaving home.
Source: Royal LePage; Better Dwelling.
The most expensive cities once again showed a higher rate, but just slightly higher. Toronto (29%) is just above the provincial average, but keep in mind Ontario is unusually high as a whole. Montreal (19%) is above the Quebec average, but lower than the national rate. For some reason, Vancouver didn’t have a data point for this one
There are a lot of reasons adult children live with their parents, but it’s naive to think that cost isn’t one of them. Rates rise in more expensive provinces and are even higher in big cities. Though we won’t get confirmation of this trend in Canada until the next Census.
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Which is 20% of the forecasted demand they expect. In the US the rate of household growth is rising due to this trend. It doesn’t matter how many you build if most can’t afford it.
The government is assuming this is under-housed people, but how much would prices need to fall for it to make sense? Almost 30%. No government would willingly let home prices wall 30% , or inflation rise to the point where 30% increases are made up in a few short years.
Tat
At some point it won’t matter what our government “wants” to have happen. There will be a tightening credit cycle maybe next year but for sure by 2023. This will cause carrying costs to rise and even fewer people will be able to afford to buy.
There’ll be a loss of paper wealth and the associated reverse wealth effect will be a large headwind to the broader economy.
The other option is to have the BoC not raise rates with the rest of the world. Which would have the bottom drop out of our currency (hello .50 USCAD). Good for local competitiveness, but really bad for inflation since most of what we buy is from outside the nation.
Either way … this is not going to be enjoyable.
You have a bank of mom and dad, or you have the Mom and Dad B&B.
I don’t envy kids today. You used to be able to move out and explore the world. Now you explore the world under your senior parent’s roof.
Same thing is happening down here. Although prices are still affordable if you go to the rust belt and south (a little less so now). Looking a few hours outside of Toronto it doesn’t look like there’s much under half a million. Not a great sign when the median household makes $100k, so those buying a first time home probably make much less.
Median household income is well below $100k (in Canadian fiat) in Toronto and all of canada.
What kind of insane person doesn’t want their kid to live outside of their home and establish their own life? I’m from a very conservative family, and even they assumed the kids will move out and at least rent, and start their own life.
I find it surprising how many people I work with still live at home, and they earn six figures. If you have the downpayment, you still need to dedicate more than half of your take-home pay for a very small home, you’ll outgrow in a few years.
2019 gdp growth was 1.8% while real inflation was in excess of 3%. Economic decisions and selling out Canadians have consequences.
I have no sympathy. You just save more. As a single person I had to wait until I was 35 to buy my first home on one income. That includes the fact that single people pay more in taxes.