Gen Z eyes home ownership, even in the Lower Mainland

At 23, Ashley de Boer isn’t looking for her forever home. She just wants an investment she can live and work in for the next three to four years.

“We had actually had an accepted offer on a place but lost it as we couldn’t get an extension for financing in time,” she said. “One of our challenges is that I’m self-employed. I only graduated from school last May. I don’t have three years to show for it. That part has been a bit tricky.”

According to Financing the Future of Canadian Housing: Generation Z Trends Report, which collects results from an online survey conducted earlier this year by Mustel Group and Sotheby’s International Realty Canada , 36 per cent of respondents ages 18 to 28 expect to purchase their first home within the next five years, and 43 per cent within five to ten years.

Still, among their friends, de Boer and her boyfriend, Surinder Sappal, are among the minority.

“Some are still in school or live at home and are content where they are at this point in their lives. But we’re very motivated. We both work seven days a week, and we don’t go out and party. I wouldn’t say we’re your average couple in their mid-twenties. So I feel like we’re inclined to move on with our lives and take the next step where maybe other people our age aren’t quite there yet.”

It may also be that their friends are seeing the headlines about the high cost of Vancouver housing.

But if 25-year-old Amera Johnson has one thing to say to her fellow Gen-Zers, it’s that home ownership is within reach.

None of her friends own homes, but they would all like to, says the realtor.

“Everyone that I’ve talked to wants to own a home; they just don’t necessarily see how it’s possible,” she said.

Like DeBoer, Johnson is looking for a place, although she’s got her eye on the Cambie area. And she too is in the industry— after a decade in hospitality, she recently got her realtor’s license. But though she might have a leg up when it comes to finding a home, she has to make a down payment like everyone else.

“I think a lot of people my age think that the down payment has to be in that higher percentage, like around 20 per cent. But if you’re looking at purchasing a lower-priced home just to break into the market, like a condo for, say, $500,000, or even $400,000 if you’re willing to live a little bit further out, then you can put down as little as five per cent, or $25,000.”

Buying a home might involve sacrifices, like moving in with a friend to save on rent or enjoying a staycation rather than visiting Thailand.

It may be that younger people are prepared to do just that.

According to the Mustel/Sotheby report, “Vancouver’s Generation Z reflected a high level of self-reliance when it comes to saving for home ownership, with 62 per cent of survey respondents reporting that personal savings will be a primary funding source for their down payment.”

Davis Lougheed, 25, and Tommy Tieu, 23, of Oakwyn Realty, have a mix of clients. What they see amongst their younger cohort is investment in pre-sales.

“With the lower deposit structures, it’s an easier way to get into the market,” said Tieu.

So is not living in Vancouver proper.

“I would say that a lot of our friends would love to be in the core of Vancouver, like downtown,” he said.

“But they understand that the closer you are to the core, the more expensive it can be. So they’ve been buying pre-sales across Metro Vancouver. We’ve had friends buy in Coquitlam, in Surrey, really all over the place.”

Lougheed said that during the first two years of the pandemic, some of his friends were able to get reasonable rental rates in the city. “They’re holding onto those rents until they’re able to buy.”

De Boer, whose family is in the construction business, believes that getting into the market sooner rather than later is important, even if it means investing in something that isn’t exactly a dream home.

But with their backgrounds in interior design and renovating, she and her boyfriend can afford to get a fixer-upper.

“Maybe that’s holding people our age back, getting into the market at a lower price point. You’re not buying a glamorous million-dollar house. It’s not going to be beautiful at first; it’s not going to be your forever home. For us, it’s going to be: buy it, enjoy it for a bit, flip it and move on to the next thing.”

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