Published on 07/12/2022 at 18:09
Analysis of census data shows that nearly five million households rented the house they lived in last year, up from 4.1 million households a decade earlier. (Photo: The Canadian Press)
TORONTO — Economists at the Royal Bank of Canada say the country has reached a record number of renters, with their numbers growing three times faster than homeowners over the past decade.
According to a report by Deputy Chief Economist Robert Hogue and Economist Rachel Battaglia, two-thirds of Canadian households owned their own home by 2021, but the number of Canadian renters was growing even faster.
Analysis of census data shows that nearly five million households rented the house they lived in last year, up from 4.1 million households a decade earlier.
Economists say Millennials born between 1981 and 1996 are driving some of the rental growth because their homeownership rate is lower than previous generations of the same age and because they face even higher house prices than their predecessors.
Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are also playing a role and have overtaken millennials as the fastest-growing group of renters in the past decade.
Economists predict that this growing demand will put “tremendous” pressure on the country’s rental housing stock and that it will take a concerted effort from policymakers, developers and builders to meet the demand.
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