Over a quarter of young families willing to trade their urban homes for cottages—study

More and more Canadian millennials are finding creative ways to fund their recreational home purchases

Over a quarter of young families willing to trade their urban homes for cottages—study
In its latest Recreational Property Report, brokerage RE/MAX found that a significant proportion of Canada’s young families are devising creative ways to finance their dreams of owning recreational real estate.

According to the study, almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of Canadian millennials (aged 18 to 34 years old) would consider buying a recreational property in the next 10 years, while over a quarter (28 per cent) of Canadian households with children under the age of 18 stated they would consider selling their primary urban residences to fund their purchase of a cottage, cabin, or ski chalet.

“Many Canadians with young families are determined to own a cottage or cabin and are willing to explore avenues to turn this dream into a reality,” according to Christopher Alexander, regional director of RE/MAX INTEGRA Ontario-Atlantic Canada Region.

“As real estate prices in areas of Canada remain high, more buyers are exploring unique financing options such as fractional ownership in a shared property, purchasing a recreational property with a friend and even selling their primary residence and putting the equity into a cottage or cabin.”

In a separate survey of RE/MAX brokers and agents, 73 per cent of regions indicated that young families with children were a key driver of demand in the market, including established recreational regions such as the Okanagan Valley in B.C., Canmore in Alberta, Collingwood in Ontario, and the Laurentians in Quebec.

Retirees were also a key driver of recreational property demand across Canada, with more than half (55 per cent) of regions surveyed reporting an increase in retiree buyers this year compared to last year.

“Large numbers of retirees and Baby Boomers nearing retirement are putting the equity they received from the sale of their home in cities like Toronto and Vancouver into the purchase of a recreational property,” explained Elton Ash, regional executive vice president of RE/MAX of Western Canada. “Significant price appreciation in those regions has made recreational property ownership a relatively affordable option for many retirees. This has in turn resulted in the price appreciation that we've seen in popular recreational property markets such as Whistler in B.C. and Haliburton in Ontario.”

The full study can be viewed here and here.


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