A recent report from Royal LePage has revealed in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver that a surprisingly high percentage of homeowners under 35 own more than one property. While this is by no means the majority of people, it is an interesting statistic. 

By surveying 1,500 Canadian homeowners in the three large urban centres, the report found that most people who have more than one property in Canada rent out the homes they are not living in. In the GTA alone, 64% of secondary property owners will rent out their secondary residence while only 7% will leave them vacant. 

Only 11% of homeowners over 35 said they owned more than one property while 18% of those 35 and under did. 42% of secondary property owners in the GTA say they used their primary residences to complete the purchase of their secondary property. However, with house prices skyrocketing, it begs the question how do they afford to buy property in these large markets?

Unfortunately, the majority of younger buyers are being helped by their parents, particularly those of the boomer generation. 54% of boomers have at least 50% of their net wealth in real estate and 29% have or would consider gifting or loaning money to their children to help with the purchase of a new home. The prevailing belief that real estate is a great financial investment holds even with Canadians under 35 with 93% of them agreeing with the statement.

Secondary properties are a great investment for many Canadians. With a surprising amount of younger buyers already investing in real estate, it looks like the real estate market isn’t slowing down any time soon.