Is home ownership only for the rich now? 80% say yes in new poll

Canadians are feeling more discouraged about prospects for home ownership than they were last year, Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News shows.

The cost-of-living crisis facing Canadians is only getting more bleak, according to new polling that shows everything from buying a first home to affording groceries has gotten harder in the past year.

On Friday, Ipsos polling conducted exclusively for Global News showed that four in five Canadians (80 per cent) 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.

The belief that home ownership is the domain of the rich is most widely held among 90 per cent of gen Z respondents (those born between 1997 and 2005) and 82 per cent of millennials (born 1981-1996).

However, 77 per cent of gen X respondents (born 1965-1980) and 78 per cent in the baby boomer group (born 1910-1964) also hold that belief.

The survey, conducted after the 2024 federal budget’s release last week, shows that 72 per cent of non-owners in Canada have now “given up” on ever owning a home, a figure that’s nine percentage points higher than last year’s polling.

While most respondents believe it’s possible to be financially secure without owning a home (71 per cent), that figure is nine percentage points lower than last year. Some 36 per cent said they would be looking to find somewhere to rent this year, compared with 14 per cent who said they’d be trying to buy a home.

Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, says this latest polling reveals how “incredibly stressed” the idea of home ownership is making Canadians.

“You can see why the anxiety is so high, because an increasing number of people believe they need to own a home, but fewer and fewer people believe that they can,” he tells Global News.