Parental funds playing a larger role in B.C.’s first-time buyer market - report

Elevated home prices and stricter mortgage rules are making it harder for first-time buyers to finance their purchases on their own

Parental funds playing a larger role in B.C.’s first-time buyer market - report
The influence of family financing on the first-time home buyer market in B.C. is growing ever more pervasive amid harsh economic realities, according to a fresh study from a leading mortgage information portal.
 
In its latest cross-country survey, RateHub.ca found that approximately 42 per cent of B.C.’s new buyers drew funds from the “bank of mom and dad”, a sensible step in a province where the average home selling price stood at $625,871 as of December 2016.
 
The company noted that this trend will not die anytime soon, especially considering the significant impact of the recent far-reaching changes to mortgage qualification rules.
 
“RateHub is expecting the bank of mom and dad to have a record year in 2017,” the report stated, as quoted by the Financial Post.
 
Other observers have mirrored RateHub’s predictions of a rougher year ahead for hopeful home owners. RateSpy.com founder and intelliMortgage planner Robert McLister recently warned that the stricter stress test mandated by the new mortgage rules will lead to fully 20 per cent of new buyers aborting their property purchase plans in their desired cities.
 
Stagnant income growth has also proven to be a major hindrance in many young professionals’ attempts to own homes.
 
“The math quite simply says incomes have not risen at all in comparison to house prices. It’s taking longer and longer for those first-time buyers to amass the means for a down payment,” Mortgage Professionals Canada president and CEO Paul Taylor stated in a joint analysis released December.


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