Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News showed that four in five Canadians now feel that owning a home is only for the rich. That’s 11 points higher than a similar poll from just over a year ago in March 2023.Graham Isador says it feels strange to think about himself as one of the “lucky ones” in Toronto’s notoriously unaffordable housing market.
According to the polling released Friday, 71 per cent of respondents said they felt it’s possible to be financially secure without owning a home, but that figure is down nine percentage points from a similar survey in March 2023. Buying a home can act as a “forced savings” tool in that way, he explains, whereas renters have to be more deliberate about putting away extra money every month on top of their rent.But Heath also disagrees that living as a renter is any less financially viable than owning a home just because those monthly rent payments don’t go towards an individual’s own savings.
Costs in retirement can vary based on whether someone is renting or buying again after selling their home, he says. In the case of downsizing, someone selling a home that’s jumped in value could similarly end up buying something else that’s also surged in price – limiting the net return on the sale.
Isador agrees that if he did have a mortgage right now, he’d likely be paying more every month – not to mention on a smaller unit in a less desirable part of the city.But as a renter for half his life, he says it’s only in the past five years or so that he’s gotten to a point where he has money left over at the end of the month to put towards longer-term savings. And knowing how to grow wealth as a renter isn’t always as straightforward as it is for homeowners, he says.
A tax-free savings account is another option to shelter investments from tax at withdrawal; Heath argues this is best suited for early-career individuals who get less benefit from deferring income taxes., which allows Canadians to save and invest tax-free towards the purchase of their first property, isn’t just for prospective homeowners.