Having a homeowner own more than one home would not be especially noteworthy if the prices for real estate in Canada’s big cities hadn’t exploded over the last decade. This is especially true for detached homes, and yet interestingly many of these homeowners we are talking about here have detached homes to go along with the detached home that’s their primary residence. Needless to say that’s doing wonders for the accumulation of equity, and it’s something interesting to note that around 1 in every 10 homeowners in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal own more than one property.
It also goes without saying that these will be the exact type of clients that real estate agents will be keen to work with, and especially if they are homeowners who have the financial means of acquiring other property to use as investments. The reality, however, is that it is in these 3 locations and other big metro areas in Canada where more and more real estate agents are entering the profession given what can be made in commissions on sales of houses that often sell for way above asking.
This is why our online real estate lead generation system here at Real Estate Leads is even more highly recommended for new realtors working in densely populated and ‘desirable’ areas of the country. It’s in these areas where the competition to be listing homes is going to be the fiercest, and being able to be first to contact legit potential homebuyers before any other realtor does. That’s no guarantee you’ll secure them as clients, but you’ll have the opportunity to do so and that’s a great way to start building up your real estate business.
Let’s look at these new estimates in greater detail and with each of the 3 big cities individually.
Vancouver
Vancouver is the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Canada, but it has the highest number of multiple property owners – 14% of them. Of those homeowners with more than 1 property owned, 27% don’t collect rental income, 51% rent the homes out full time aside from their primary residence, while 13% use them alternating between personal and rental properties. Approximately 7% of the homes are vacant, and yes it’s safe to assume those are investors who are assuming the speculation and vacancy tax in BC as simply a cost of doing business.
It’s fair to say that real estate is an integral part of retirement planning for many Vancouver homeowners and many of those with multiple homes are looking to build future equity as a means of sustaining a desired lifestyle into their retirement years. More commonly than having them used to subsidize monthly income, these home are owned as a long-term investment.
This 14% stat also applies to multiple property homeowners who are between the ages of 18 and 35 too, and that may be the one that people find most surprising. Again though, we can safely assume that the majority of this group started on the property ladder with parental help if they’ve managed to own 2 homes while still being in what most would consider to be their youth.
Toronto
The percentage of homeowners owning multiple properties in Toronto is only slightly less, with 13% of them owning more than one property. Of those 27% do not collect rental income from those properties. 49% rent them out and 15% use those additional properties either themselves and for rental income / long-term investment purposes.
18% of homeowners in that same 18 and 35 age bracket who own in Toronto have multiple properties, while 11% of those 35 and up do as well. Demand in nearby areas that are just outside the GTA like Guelph and London factor in here too. Receiving outside financial assistance has likely benefited young homeowners here too and applies the same way it does for Vancouver. And of course both cities are far and away the two most popular destinations for newcomers to Canada, many of whom arrive with much greater financial means than many Canadians.
Montreal
Of Canada’s 3 biggest cities it is Montreal that is the most affordable, although that’s a very relative term and that will be immediately obvious if we compare house prices here to ones in smaller cities anywhere in the country.
An estimate of 12% of homeowners in Quebec’s major metro city own more than one home. Of them 37% do
Out of Canada’s three largest cities, Montreal area real estate is the cheapest and it’s allowed 12% of survey respondents to purchase more than one property. Of these multiple property homeowners, 37% don’t collect rental income from properties owned beyond their primary residence, while 25% rent out the properties. 9% used properties for a period of the year and collect rental income on it outside of that time. 4% leave the properties vacant as long-term investments and this will primarily apply to condominiums in the city
One noted trend here is that secondary property owners in Montreal use them for leisure more often than an investment. That may be in large part because while the MTL market is hot, it’s not red hot like the ones in Vancouver and Toronto and as such there’s a little less incentive to put properties to take advantage of serious price gains.
16% of homeowners aged 18-35 own more than one property, while only 11% over 35 do, and that lower number for the second group is again likely a reflection of their being less of a frenzy for owning second homes for rental income or investment.
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